pft 


5L5 


\ 


THE 


GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 


*  The  hand  that  gives  the  angels  wings, 
And  plants  the  forest  by  its  power, 
O'er  mountain,  vale,  and  champaign  flings 

The  seed  of  every  herb  and  flower : 
Nor  forests  stand,  nor  angels  fly, 
More  at  God's  will,  more  in  his  eye, 
Than  the  green  blade  strikes  down  its  root, 
Expands  its  bloom,  and  yields  its  fruit." 

MONTGOICBBT. 


PHILADELPHIA : 
AMERICAN    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    UNION, 

NO.  146  CHESTNUT   STREET. 

LONDON: 
RELIGIOUS   TRACT   SOCIETY. 


BIOLOGY 
LIBRARY 

G 


NOTE. — The  American  Sunday-school  Union  have  made  an 
arrangement  with  the  London  Religious  Tract  Society,  to  pub- 
lish, concurrently  with  them,  such  of  their  valuahle  works  as 
are  best  suited  to  our  circulation.  In  making  the  selection, 
reference  will  be  had  to  the  general  utility  of  the  volumes,  and 
their  sound  moral  tendency.  They  will  occupy  a  distinct  place 
on  our  catalogue,  and  will  constitute  a  valuable  addition  to  our 
stock  of  books  for  family  and  general  reading. 

As  they  will  be,  substantially,  reprints  of  the  London  edition, 
the  credit  of  their  general  character  will  belong  to  our  English 
brethren  and  not  to  us ;  and  we  may  add,  that  the  republica- 
tion  of  them,  under  our  joint  imprint,  involves  us  in  no  respon- 
sibility beyond  that  of  a  judicious  selection.  We  cheerfully 
avail  ourselves  of  this  arrangement  for  giving  wider  influence 
and  value  to  the  labours  of  a  sister  institution  so  catholic  in 
its  character  and  so  efficient  in  its  operations  as  the  London 
Rdigious  Tract  Society. 

Jg^  The  present  volume  is  issued  under  the  above  arrange- 
ment 


PREFACE. 


THE  object  of  the  following  pages  is  to  give 
a  brief  and  popular  view  of  that  branch  cf 
botany  and  physical  geography,  which  is  com- 
monly termed  the  Geography  of  Plants  ;  a 
study  which  is  yet  in  its  infancy,  but  respect- 
ing which  enough  is  known,  both  as  to  facts 
and  laws,  to  render  it  one  of  no  common 
iiiterest.  The  mere  enumeration  of  botanical 
names  has  been  carefully  avoided,  especially 
in  describing  the  floral  features  of  foreign 
countries,  where  the  mention  of  such  plants 
as  are  generally  unknown  here  would  have 
been  unintelligible  without  figures,  or  descrip- 
tions of  a  length  precluded  by  the  limits  of  the 
work.  Such  plants  only,  therefore,  have  been 


IV  PREFACE. 

selected  in  illustration,  as  would  be  generally 
known,  or  could  be  readily  described.  *•  * 
Much  assistance  has  been  derived  in  the 
preparation  of  these  pages  from  the  works  of 
of  M.  Meyen,  Dr.  Lindley,  Mrs.  Somerville^ 
and  Dr.  Carpenter  ;  and  to  the  works  of  the 
first  of  these  authors  and  of  baron  Humboldt, 
the  reader  who  desires  further  information 
is  directed.  Mr.  H.  C.  Watson's  "  Cybele 
Brittanica"  will  also  afford  much  instruction 
in  regard  to  the  geographical  distribution  of 
British  plants. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Page 

Introduction — General  view  of  the  numbers  and  distri- 
bution of  plants  —  Botanical  districts  —  Centres  of 
creation  —  Influence  of  soil  and  situation  —  Marine 
plants— Sargassum  —  Red  Sea— Minute  algae— Fresh- 
water plants— Lotus — Vallisneria — Spring  and  fountain 
plants— Oases— Maritime  plants— Barilla— Mangrove- 
Steppes  —  Sand  plants  —  Chalk  plants  —  Bog  plants  — 
Mountain  plants— Cultivated  ground  plants— Field 
and  wood  plants  —  Parasites  and  epiphytes  —  Orchis 
tribe  ...  7 


CHAPTER  II. 

Influence  of  climate— Light  and  heat— Chemical  actions 
,  — Zones  —  Isothermal  lines — Summer  temperature  — 
Equinoctial  zone  —  Baobab  —  Age  of  trees— Bombax— 
Mahogany  —  Orchis  —  Climbers  —  Rafflesia  —  Tropical 
forests— Cacao-nut — Woorali  poison— Cassava  —Palms 
—Cocoa-nut— Sago  palm— Arborescent  grasses— Bam- 
boo—Sugar-cane— Cotton  — Scitaminese— Gutta  percha 
—  Camphor  —  Spice  Islands  —  Nutmeg  —  Clove  —  Cin- 
namon—Pepper— Nettles— Upas— Java— The  forbidden 
fruit  .  

CHAPTER  III. 

The  tropical  zone — Tree  ferns — Ipomsea — Passion  flower 
—Victoria  —  Potato  —  Arrow-root  —Dumb-cane  — Man- 
chineel —  Hura — Sandwich  Islands  —  Pandanus  —  Pine 
apple— Banana— Taro— China— The  sub-tropical  zone- 
Succulent  plants— Euphorbias— Fig  tribe— India-rubber 
— Banian— Dracaena — Desert— Papyrus— Egypt — Gourd 
tribe  —  Acacia— Balm  of  Gilead —Tamarisk— Henna- 
Coffee— The  Land  of  Promise— Date  palm— Lily— Cedar 
—Olive— Pomegranate  —  Carob  —  Myrtle— India— Teak 


Vi  CONTENTS. 

Page 

tree— Castor  oil  — Lemon  grass  —  Spikenard— Cotton- 
Himalayas— China  —  Tea —  Rice  — Australia— Acacias — 
Eucalyptus— Epacris— Grass  tree— South  Africa— Pro- 
teas — Heaths — Geraniums  —  Mimosa  —  Aloe  —  Cycas — 
House-leek  tribe— Deserts— North  America— Tobacco 
— Mexico — Agave — Furcraea—  South  America — Cactus  .  75 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Warmer  temperate  zone — Orange  —  Vine  —Varieties- 
Asia  Minor — Benefits  of  commerce  —  Rose  —  Thibet— 
Prangos  —United  States  —  Maize— Chili— Araucaria— 
Primeval  forests — New  Zealand — Van  Diemen's  Land 
—The  colder  temperate  zone— Oak— Corn— Compari- 
son of  this  zone  in  the  northern  and  southern  hemi- 
spheres—Sub-arctic  zone— Pine  and  Fir— Arctic  zone- 
Polar  zone 148 

CHAPTER  V. 

Influence  of  altitude— Regions— Divine  wisdom  and  be- 
nevolence— Poisonous  plants— The  resurrection  .  .  179 


THE 


GEOGKAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

Introduction— General  view  of  the  numbers  and  distribution 
of  plants — Botanical  districts — Centres  of  creation — In- 
fluence of  soil  and  situation — Marine  plants — Sargassum — 
Red  Sea— Minute  algas— Fresh-water  plants— Lotus— Val- 
lisneria — Spring  and  fountain  plants — Oases — Maritime 
plants— Barilla— Mangrove—  Steppes— Sand  plants— Chalk 
plants — Bog  plants — Mountain  plants— Cultivated  ground 
plants — Field  and  wood  plants — Parasites  and  epiphytes — 
Orchis  tribe. 

AMIDST  all  the  varied  forms  of  beauty,  and  the 
marvellous  displays  of  wisdom,  with  which  a 
bountiful  Creator  has  adorned  our  earth,  the 
vast  vegetable  kingdom  holds  a  prominent 
place.  And  surely  none  can  survey  the  amaz- 
ing variety  and  loveliness  of  the  plants  and 
trees  which  clothe  this  earth,  and  reflect  on 
their  immense  importance,  as  furnishing  food, 
clothing,  medicine,  and  luxuries  to  man,  and 
not  be  led  at  once  to  the  acknowledgment  that 
"  the  hand  of  the  Lord  hath  wrought  this."  It 
is,  however,  but  too  true,  that  many  attempt 

7 


8  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

to  trace  the  origin  of  plants  to  what  is  called 
"spontaneous  or  equivocal  generation;"  but, 
in -spite  of  the 'vain  effort  to  disavow  and  get 
rid  of  the  Idea  of  •  an  all-wise  and  supreme 
Creator^  -there  are  multitudes  of  facts  directly 
c-p^osed  i;c  such  iriews,  which  clearly  exhibit  the 
wonderful  provision  God  has  made  in  the  vege- 
table creation  for  the  wants,  comforts,  and 
enjoyments  of  our  race,  in  so  vast  a  variety  of 
ways,  that  the  Christian  naturalist  delights 
to  trace  the  works  of  his  heavenly  Fathers 
hand,  to  see  his  mercy  and  his  goodness  thus 
displayed  to  all  his  intelligent  creatures,  and  to 
praise  him  for  his  goodness  to  the  children  of 
men. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  enter  into  the  general 
subject  of  botany,  but  to  take  up  one  of  the 
branches  of  the  science,  which  affords  large 
scope  for  very  interesting  inquiries.  The 
science  may  be  considered  as  consisting  of 
three  principal  sub-divisions  or  branches. 

I.  PHYSIOLOGICAL  BOTANY.  —  This   comprises 
investigations  into  the  structure  and  organs  of 
plants,  (Vegetable  Anatomy,)  and  their  functions 
and  uses,  (Vegetable  Physiology.)     It  forms  a 
very  interesting  and  instructive  study. 

II.  SYSTEMATIC  BOTANY  ;  or,  CLASSIFICATION. 
— The  number  of  plants  hitherto  discovered  on 
the  surface  of  the  globe  is  so  immense,  that 
without  some  kind  of  classification  or  arrange- 
ment, they  would  present  an  inextricable  mass 
of  confusion.     Various  methods  have  been  pro- 
posed, two  only  of  which  have  stood  the  test  of 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  PLANTS.  9 

time,  the  Linnaean  and  the  Jussisean,  some- 
times, though  unfairly,  termed  the  artificial 
and  the  natural  methods  ;  both  are  useful,  the 
former  having  been  aptly  designated  as  "  the 
grammar,"  the  latter  as  "  the  literature  "  of  the 
science,  and  both  should  be  studied. 

III.  GEOGRAPHICAL  BOTANY.  —  This,  which 
•will  form  the  subject  of  our  remarks,  is  the 
investigation  into  those  laws  which  regulate  the 
distribution  of  plants  over  the  face  of  our 
globe  \  which  assign  a  certain  set  of  plants 
to  one  country,  and  a  different  series  to 
another  ;  or,  which  allow  of  one  plant  being 
so  widely  distributed  over  the  various  coun- 
tries of  our  globe  as  almost  to  be  called 
universal,  while  others  are  restricted  to  the 
narrowest  limits. 

It  is  estimated  that  the  number  of  distinct 
species  of  plants,  already  known  and  described, 
is  92,930.  This  includes  all  the  flowering 
plants,  trees,  and  shrubs,  ferns,  mosses,  lichens, 
sea  and  river  weeds,  (Algce,)  mushrooms  and 
their  allies,  (Fungi  j)  in  fact,  every  vegetable 
production.  These  are  very  variously  distri- 
buted over  our  globe  ;  light,  heat,  altitude, 
soil,  situation,  all  contributing  their  influence 
in  modifying  the  diffusion  of  species,  and  of 
these  the  first  two  are  by  far  the  most  impor- 
tant. Near  the  equator,  where  light  and  heat 
are  most  intense,  vegetation  is  most  luxuriant 
and  profuse  ;  while  at  the  poles,  or  at  those 
high  elevations  which  reach  above  the  line  of 
perpetual  snow,  or  in  the  profounder  recesses 


10        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

of  the  ocean,  vegetable  life  seems  to  become 
entirely  extinct,  and  not  a  plant  even  of  the 
simplest  form  appears.  Between  these  extreme 
limits,  however,  every  gradation  is  seen,  ac- 
cording to  the  increase  of  latitude  or  height 
The  species  which  inhabit  each  particular  dis- 
trict of  our  globe  are  just  those  best  suited  to 
the  physical  condition  of  each,  and  to  the 
requirements  of  its  inhabitants,  whether  of  the 
human  species  or  of  the  brute  creation.  Thus, 
the  Avater-melon,  tha  banana,  the  bread-fruit, 
and  the  rice-plant,  are  peculiar  to  tropical  regions ; 
while  the  vine,  wheat,  barley,  and  the  common 
corn-plants,  will  not  succeed  in  so  high  a  tem- 
perature, but  require  a  cooler  climate.  Many 
facts,  which  we  shall  have  to  notice,  will 
exhibit  to  us  the  goodness  of  God  in  so 
arranging  the  vegetable  productions  of  our 
globe,  that  not  only  (to  a  great  extent)  are  the 
food-plants  of  the  various  countries  exactly 
such  as  are  best  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the 
inhabitants,  but  also  that  a  vast  variety  of  the 
more  useful  plants  are  so  distributed  as  to 
induce  commercial  intercourse ;  and  thus, 
while  they  render  nations  mutually  dependent 
on  one  another  for  many  of  the  comforts  and 
conveniences  of  life,  they  are  an  indirect  means 
of  promoting  the  advancement  of  civilization, 
and,  above  all,  of  the  spread  of  the  gospel.  Why, 
however,  a  certain  species  should  only  be  able 
to  flourish  in  a  certain  soil,  and  under  a  certain 
amount  of  heat  and  moisture,  is  a  problem  we 
cannot  as  yet  solve  ;  it  doubtless  depends  on 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  PLANTS.  11 

special  peculiarities  in  the  internal  structure  ; 
but  in  what  those  peculiarities  consist,  we  are 
ignorant. 

Some  plants ,  too,  are  very  widely  distributed. 
The  daisy,  for  example,  is  spread  throughout 
Europe  almost  universally,  in  Australia,  in 
Northern  Asia,  in  some  parts  of  Africa,  and  in 
South  America.  In  India  and  North  America, 
however,  it  is  entirely  absent,  and  can  only  be 
preserved  as  a  choice  exotic,  tended  with  the 
most  zealous  care  in  botanic  gardens.  The 
cereals,  that  is,  wheat,  barley,  oats,  rye,  etc., 
are  endowed  with  a  very  great  power  of  adap- 
tation. Though  their  native  country  is  scarcely 
known,  and  they  are  rarely  found  wild,  yet 
they  possess  a  power  of  enduring  such  a  variety 
of  temperature,  that  they  have  been  introduced 
by  cultivation  over  a  large  portion  of  our  globe. 
They  can  withstand  the  cold  of  62°  N.  lat., 
and  though  they  will  not  in  general  bear  the 
heat  of  the  tropics,  yet  even  in  such  places 
they  are  sometimes  cultivated  during  the 
winter  season.  The  potato,  again,  though  only 
known  wild  as  a  native  of  the  western  coast  of 
South  America,  is  now  cultivated  almost  uni- 
versally, particularly  in  Europe  and  North 
America,  and  has  become  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant articles  of  food,  especially  among  the 
poor. 

On  the  other  hand,  many  species  (and  pro- 
bably the  great  majority  of  plants)  are  very 
limited  in  their  abodes.  The  Cactus  tribe,  so 
generally  cultivated  in  our  green-houses,  and  so 


12        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

remarkable  for  the  singularity  of  their  growth, 
the  absence  of  leaves,  and  the  splendour  of  their 
flowers,  contains  800  species,  all  of  which  are 
peculiar  to  America,  and  not  a  single  species 
is  a  native  of  Europe,  Asia,  or  Africa.  533 
species  of  the  beautiful  genus  Erica,  or  heath, 
are  found  at  or  near  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
and  nowhere  else  in  the  world.  Most  of  the 
species  of  Epacris,  (a  heath-like  plant  with 
beautiful  flowers,)  and  many  species  of  Protect, 
Mimosa,  Eucalyptus,  Banksia,  and  several 
others,  which  ornament  our  green-houses 
and  hot-houses,  and  whose  singular  foliage  and 
beautiful  flowers  caused  captain  Cook  to  give 
the  name  of  Botany  Bay  to  the  well-known 
place  which  still  bears  it,  are  peculiar  to 
Australia.  The  species  of  Cinchona,  too, 
which  yield  the  Peruvian  bark,  grow  only  on 
the  eastern  declivity  of  the  Andes,  as  far  as 
18°  s.  lat.  ;  and  the  cedar  of  Lebanon  is  indi- 
genous to  that  mountain  alone.  It  would  be 
easy  to  multiply  instances,  but  this  is  needless. 
These  facts  will  enable  us  readily  to  under- 
stand, that  there  are  numerous  botanical  dis*- 
tricts  on  the  surface  of  our  globe,  each  of  which 
has  its  own  vegetation,  a  considerable  number, 
perhaps  the  majority  of  the  species,  being 
peculiar  to  the  particular  district,  while  others 
are  found  in  common  with  other  localities. 
Very  often  these  districts  contain  whole  families 
of  plants  found  nowhere  else  ;  and  even  of 
genera  which  inhabit  other  countries,  the 
species  are  different ;  perhaps,  in  similar  cir- 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  PLANTS.  1 3 

eumstances,  representative,  but  not  identical. 
Thus,  the  Flora  of  the  United  States  of  North 
America  is  totally  different  from  that  of  Europe, 
even  in  places  where  the  annual  temperature  is 
the  same.  Of  2,891  species  of  flowering  plants 
found  in  the  United  States,  only  385  are  com- 
mon to  them  and  the  corresponding  latitudes  of 
Europe.  In  St .  Helena,  of  thirty  flowering  plants , 
only  one  or  two  are  native  elsewhere.  In  the 
Galapagos  islands,  out  of  180  plants  which  have 
been  collected,  100  are  found  nowhere  else  ; 
and  of  twenty-one  species  of  composite  plants,  all 
but  one  are  peculiar  to  that  group.  Some  few 
species  make  the  most  remarkable  leaps,  being 
common  to  countries  at  a  great  distance  from 
each  other,  while  absent,  or  nearly  so,  from  the 
intervening  ones.  Thus,  in  the  Falkland  Islands, 
more  than  thirty  plants,  natives  of  Britain,  are 
found  wild.  The  common  quaking-grass  (Briza 
media)  has  been  found  in  the  interior  of  the 
country  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  ;  and  almost 
all  the  lichens  brought  from  the  southern 
hemisphere  by  sir  James  Eoss,  amounting  to 
200  species,  are  found  in  the  northern  hemi- 
sphere, and  chiefly  in  Europe.  Several  of  our 
commonest  plants,  as  the  bull-rush,  (Typhaan- 
gustifolia,)  the  reed,  (Arundo  pliragmites,)  the 
marsh-mallow,  (Althcea  qfficinalis,)  the  bird's- 
foot  trefoil,  (Lotus  corniculatus,}  the  knot-grass, 
(Polygonum  aviculare,)  with  several  others,  are 
found  again  in  Australia.  For  this  various 
distribution  of  plants  it  is  difficult  to  account. 
A  recent  theory,  which  has  been  ably  advocated 
2 


14        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

by  professor  E.  Forbes,  supposes  that  plants 
were  originally  created  in  certain  spots,  (called 
"  centres  of  creation,")  each  containing  its 
peculiar  group  of  species,  and  that  from  these 
spots  they  have  become  gradually  diffused  ;  the 
extent  of  such  diffusion  depending  partly  on 
the  peculiar  adaptation  of  the  plants  them- 
selves, and  also  being  in  many  cases  very  much 
modified  by  geological  changes.  We  are  not, 
however,  prepared  to  subscribe  to  this  theory, 
however  ingenious  ;  a  much  larger  array  of 
facts  must  be  produced  in  its  support  before 
it  can  claim  to  be  regarded  as  a  truth.  We 
should  rather  be  inclined  to  say,  with  one  of 
our  poets, 

"  Jehovah  spake— 

And  Earth,  an  infant,  naked  as  she  came 
Out  of  the  womb  of  Chaos,  straight  put  on 
Her  beautiful  attire,  and  deck'd  her  robe 
Of  verdure  with  ten  thousand  glorious  flowers, 
Exhaling  incense ;  crowri'd  her  mountain-heads 
With  cedars,  train 'd  her  vines  around  their  girdles, 
And  pour'd  spontaneous  harvests  at  their  feet." 

In  entering  somewhat  more  at  large  into  this 
subject,  we  will  consider  separately  the  influence 
of  situation,  climate,  and  attitude.  First,  then, 
as  to  SITUATION  and  SOIL. — These  materially 
influence  the  distribution  of  plants.  Some 
require  a  moist  soil — others  a  dry  one  :  some  a 
high  elevation — others  are  found  only  in  the 
plains  :  some  in  the  clefts  of  rocks — others  in  the 
richest  pastures — others  only  in  sandy  wastes  : 
some  grow  immersed  in  the  ocean — others  are 
on  dry  walls  and  roofs.  The  southern  slope  of  a 
hill  is  generally  clothed  with  different  plants  to 


MARINE  PLANTS.  15 

those  on  its  northern  side  ;  a  chalk  district  pre- 
sents an  array  of  vegetation  greatly  differing  from 
that  of  a  clayey  soil ;  which,  again,  as  widely 
differs  from  pastures  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  sea.  Vines  cannot  flourish  in 
a  soil  which  does  not  supply  them  with  potash  ; 
neither  can  peas,  beans,  nor  plants  used  as  dyes, 
reach  perfection  without  the  same  ingredient. 
The  corn  plants  require  a  soil  containing  both 
potash  and  the  earthy  phosphates ;  nor  can  any 
of  the  grasses  flourish  without  silica,  which 
gives  its  hard  coating  to  straw,  and  to  so 
great  an  extent  is  it  absorbed  by  them,  that 
hard  masses  of  vitrified  silicious  matter  have 
been  found  where  a  wheat  or  hay-stack  has 
been  destroyed  by  fire  ;  and  the  hollow  tubes  of 
the  bamboo  often  contain  solid  flinty  lumps, 
called  in  India  "  Tabaslieer."  Plants  of  the 
cruciform  order  (as  mustard,  turnips,  etc.)  con- 
tain sulphur,  and  require  it  in  a  soil  in  which 
they  can  flourish.  In  fact,  most  plants  have 
their  peculiarities  in  this  respect,  and  often 
there  is  a  marked  difference  in  the  trees  grow- 
ing on  the  same  mountain,  depending  on  the 
nature  of  the  rock  beneath. 

Let  us  now  take  a  glance  at  the  various 
habitats,  (as  they  are  termed  by  botanists,)  and 
the  chief  plants  which  occupy  them. 

Marine  plants  are  those  which  are  found  in 
sea-water,  and  therefore  in  every  ocean.  It  is 
not  to  be  supposed  that  plants  grow  indif- 
ferently at  any  depth  in  the  sea  ;  it  is  probable 
that  they  will  not  exist  at  a  greater  depth  than 


16        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

a  few  hundred  feet.  The  depth  of  the  ocean 
varies  very  greatly,  and  animals  and  plants  are 
alike  absent  from  its  deeper  parts.  The  plants 
included  under  the  name  of  marine  plants  are 
the  immense  family  of  Algce,  or  sea- weeds,  and 
the  single  genus  of  flowering  plants,  termed 
zostera,  or  grass  wrack,  of  which  we  have  two 
native  species  existing  in  our  British  seas,  one 
of  which  is  extremely  abundant.  Most  of  the 
marine  plants  are  rooted  on  the  bottom  of  the 
sea,  or  on  rocks,  or  even  on  other  sea-weeds, 
chiefly  in  shallow  water,  and  must,  therefore, 
derive  all  their  nourishment  from  the  sea- water 
and  the  air  it  contains.  There  are  exceptions 
to  this,  such  as  in  the  sea-weed  now  called  Sar- 
gassum  vulgare.  This  very  remarkable  plant 
forms  beds  of  vast  extent  over  a  space  in  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  which  is  called  the  Sargasso 
Sea,  (Mar  de  Zargasso  of  the  Portuguese,)  and 
which  extends  from  22°  to  36°  N.  lat,  and 
from  25°  to  45°  w.  long.,  an  area  equal  to 
40,000  square  miles,  or  the  whole  of  France. 
So  vast  are  some,  of  these  beds  of  sea- weed,  that 
Columbus,  who  met  with  them  in  his  first 
voyage  westward,  in  which  he  discovered  the 
western  hemisphere,  compared  them  to  floating 
meadows.  Their  occurrence  induced  him  to 
expect  the  vicinity  of  land  long  before  the 
realization  of  his  hopes  and  predictions,  and 
enabled  him  for  some  time  to  repress  the  mu- 
tinous disposition  of  his  wearied  and  dispirited 
seamen.  It  is  singular  that  this  sea-weed  has 
never  been  ^ound  with  either  root  or  fruit,  and 


MARINE  PLANTS.  17 

in  small  specimens  it  is  easily  seen  that  they 
have  grown  in  all  directions  from  a  central 
point,  which  never  has  been  fixed. 

A  sea-weed,  common  in  the  North  Sea, 
(Chorda  filum,)  is  frequently  found  of  the 
length  of  thirty  or  forty  feet.  In  Scalpa  Bay, 
in  Orkney,  this  plant  forms  meadows,  through 
which  a  pinnace  can  with  difficulty  force  its 
way.  On  the  western  coasts  of  the  British 
Channel,  there  are  permanent  bands  or  masses 
of  this  sea-weed,  lying  in  the  direction  of  the 
currents,  not  more  than  six  hundred  feet  wide, 
but  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  in  length.  Another 
species  (Lessonia  fuscescens)  is,  we  are  in- 
formed, twenty-five  or  thirty  feet  long,  with  a 
trunk  as  thick  as  a  man's  thigh,  and  with  numer- 
ous branches,  from  which  long  leaves  droop  into 
the  water  like  willows.  There  are  immense 
submarine  forests  off  Patagonia  and  Terra  del 
Fuego,  attached  to  the  rocks  at  the  bottom. 
These  plants  are  so  strong  and  buoyant  that 
they  bring  up  large  masses  of  stone  ;  and  as 
they  grow  slanting,  and  stretch  along  the 
surface  of  the  sea,  they  are  sometimes  three 
hundred  feet  long.  The  quantity  of  living 
creatures  which  inhabit  these  submarine  forests, 
and  the  parasitical  weeds  attached  to  them,  is 
inconceivable — they  absolutely  teem  with  life. 
But  for  gigantic  size,  the  prodigious  ponds  of  a 
species  (Macrocystis  pyriferd)  found  about  Cape 
Horn,  and  in  the  Straits  of  Magellan  and  Le 
Maine,  exceed  all  others.  Specimens  have 
been  measured  which  exceed  three  hundred 

2* 


18        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

feet  in  length,  and  it  is  said  to  grow  even  to  the 
length  of  fifteen  hundred  feet.  Its  leaves  are 
long  and  narrow,  and  at  the  base  of  each  is 
placed  a  vesicle  filled  with  air,  which  assists  to 
support  its  enormous  length  in  the  water.  It 
exists  in  detached  masses,  like  green  meadows, 
in  every  latitude,  from  the  South  Polar  Ocean 
to  the  45th  degree  of  N.  lat.  in  the  Atlantic, 
and  to  the  shores  of  California  in  the  Pacific, 
where  there  are  fields  of  it  so  impenetrable,  that 
it  has  saved  vessels,  driven  by  the  heavy  swell 
towards  the  shore,  from  shipwreck.  It  is  never 
seen  where  the  temperature  of  the  water  is  at 
the  freezing  point.  This,  with  another  species, 
(Laminaria  radiata,)  also  of  gigantic  size  and 
extensive  range,  forms  part  of  a  band  of  sea- 
weed that  girds  Kerguelen's  Island  so  densely  that 
a  boat  can  scarcely  be  pulled  through  it.  They 
are  found,  too,  in  great  abundance  on  the  coasts 
of  the  Falkland  Islands,  and  also  in  vast  fields  in 
the  open  sea,  hundreds  of  miles  from  any  land. 
The  colour  of  the  Red  Sea  is  said  to  be 
owing  to  its  sea-weeds.  Dupont  gives  the 
following  statement :  "  On  the  8th  of  July, 
1843,  I  entered  the  Red  Sea  by  the  Straits  of 
Babelmandel,  on  board  the  l  Atalanta'  steamer. 
On  the  15th,  the  burning  sun  of  Arabia  awoke 
me  by  its  brilliancy,  unannounced  by  the  dawn. 
I  was  leaning  mechanically  out  of  the  poop 
windows,  to  catch  a  little  of  the  fresh  air  of 
night  before  the  sun  had  devoured  it,  when, 
imagine  my  surprise  to  find  the  sea  stained  red 
as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach  behind  the  vessel. 


MARINE  PLANTS.  19 

If  I  were  to  attempt  to  describe  this  pheno- 
menon, I  would  say  that  the  surface  of  the  ocean 
was  entirely  covered  with  a  thin,  close  layer  of 
fine  matter,  the  colour  of  brick-dust,  but 
slightly  orange.  Mahogany  saw-dust  would 
produce  such  an  appearance.  When  put  into 
a  white  glass  bottle,  it  became  in  the  course  of 
a  day  deep  violet,  while  the  water  itself  had 
become  a  beautiful  rose-colour.  This  appear- 
ance lasted  for  about  a  day  and  a  half,  after 
which  the  sea  became  blue  as  before.  During 
this  time  we  must  have  passed  through  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty- six  miles  of  the  red 
plant."  Off  Bahia,  on  the  coast  of  Brazil, 
bands,  several  miles  long,  occur,  of  a  species 
like  chopped  hay.  But  some  of  the  minute 
sea-weeds  are  the  most  marvellous.  In  the 
Antarctic  Ocean  vast  multitudes  of  one  of  the 
Diatomacece  occur,  so  minute  as  to  be  invisible 
to  the  naked  eye,  and  yet  swarming  in  such 
countless  myriads  as  to  give  the  sea  a  pale 
ochreous  brown  colour. 

The  thought  of  such  numbers  confounds  the 
mind.  On  their  first  discovery  they  were 
thought  to  be  animalcules  of  the  silicious 
shelled  kind,  but  they  are  now  ascertained  to 
be  vegetables.  They  augment  in  quantity  as 
the  latitude  increases,  up  to  the  highest  point 
attained  by  man ;  and  from  the  1 65th  to  the  160th 
degree  of  west  longitude,  between  the  76th  and 
78th  parallels  of  south  latitude,  the  hard  remains 
of  this  vegetable  are  forming  a  submarine  bank, 
from  two  to  three  hundred  miles  long,  and  of  great 


20        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

breadth — a  marvellous  instance  of  great  ends 
from  small  means.  It  forms  one  among  many 
instances  of  that  omnipotent  Power,  which  can, 
out  of  (apparently)  the  most  insignificant  things, 
produce  vast  results  ;  and  reminds  us  that  in 
-  providence  and  grace,  as  well  as  in  nature,  vast 
results  often  proceed  from  seemingly  trivial 
causes.  What  an  idea,  too,  does  so  amazing  an 
amount  of  being  convey  of  eternity  !  The  mind 
is  utterly  overwhelmed  in  attempting  to  con  - 
ceive  of  the  number  of  plants  buried  in  even  a 
small  portion  of  such  a  mass,  and  yet,  vast  as 
such  myriads  are,  they  are  nothing  to  the  ages 
of  eternity  !  We  have  thus  mentioned  some  of 
the  most  remarkable  marine  plants,  but  few 
persons  can  have  walked  on  any  of  our  shores, 
and  not  had  their  attention  attracted  by  the  ex- 
treme beauty  of  many  of  our  native  sea- weeds, 
of  every  shade  and  hue,  from  the  delicate  green 
of  many  of  the  conferva^  to  the  brilliant  red  and 
purple  of  others. 

Fresh-water  plants  are  such  as  grow  in  fresh- 
water only.  These  are  of  vastly  more  varied  forms 
than  the  marine  species.  The  large  order  ofalgce, 
which  we  just  remarked  abounds  in  the  sea,  has 
its  representatives  also  in  fresh- water  ;  these 
principally  belong  to  the  conferva,  a  section  of 
the  algce  with  which,  by  name,  perhaps,  but  few 
are  acquainted,  though  the  plants  themselves 
are  familiar  to  most.  Who  is  there  that  has 
not  observed,  in  a  stagnant  ditch  or  pond,  masses 
of  green  matter,  frequently  in  the  form  of  very 
fine  hair,  or  covering  the  surface  of  the  water 


FRESH-WATER  PLANTS.  21 

with  a  greenish  slime  ?  If  now  a  minute  por- 
tion of  this  matter  be  taken  on  a  slip  of  glass, 
spread  out  with  a  drop  of  clear  water,  and  then 
placed  beneath  a  good  microscope,  it  will  be 
found  to  be  composed  of  an  assemblage  of 
plants,  often  exceedingly  elegant  and  beautiful 
in  their  structure.  The  number  of  species  of 
conferva;  and  the  allied  genera  is  very  great, 
probably  not  less  than  six  hundred.  Their 
propagation  is  often  exceedingly  rapid,  perfect 
plants  being  often  entirely  reproduced  in  from 
twenty-four  to  forty-eight  hours.  Ponds,  which 
have  been  entirely  cleared  of  conferva  one  day, 
have  become  quite  covered  by  them  the  next. 

In  tropical  countries,  the  confervce  are  very 
rare,  though  not  altogether  absent.  The  duck- 
weed (Lemna)  is  an  extremely  common  and 
well-known  fresh-water  plant ;  four  species  of 
it  inhabit  England,  two  of  which  have  also  been 
found  in  America  and  Australia.  It  is  general 
throughout  temperate  climates.  In  tropical 
countries,  the  duck-weeds  cease,  and  are  re- 
placed by  a  larger  plant,  with  flowers  and 
leaves,  (Pistia  stratiotes,)  which  covers  many  of 
the  tropical  lakes  in  incredible  quantities. 
When  there  have  been  storms  on  the  Laguna 
de  Bay,  the  great  lake  in  the  island  Lucon, 
these  plants  are  thrown  on  the  coasts,  and  not 
only  cover  the  edges  of  the  water,  but  form 
heaps  several  feet  high  on  the  shore,  and  spread 
a  dreadful  stench  while  decaying.  The  same 
plant  grows  abundantly  in  the  water-tanks  in 
Jamaica,  and  is  said,  by  the  acrid  properties 


22  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

it  communicates  in  hot,  dry  weather,  to  giv 
rise  to  dysentery  among  those  who  mak< 
use  of  the  water.  Among  fresh- water  plants, 
we  should  hardly  forget  to  notice  the  pretty 
yellow  water-lily,  (Ntipkar  lutea,}  and  its  still 
more  beautiful  relative,  the  white  water-lily, 
(Nymphcea  alba,}  whose  lovely  pure  white 
blossoms  and  handsome  floating  leaves  delight 
the  eye  of  many  an  observer.  A  tropical  spe- 
cies, (Nelumbium  speciosum,)  formerly  common 
in  Egypt,  but  now  said  to  be  extinct  there, 
though  still  abounding  in  the  placid  waters 
of  India  and  Thibet,  where  it  is  held  sacred,  is 
remarkable  for  the  beauty  of  its  fragrant  rose- 
coloured  flowers,  which  somewhat  resemble 
those  of  the  water-lily,  but  rise  out  of  the 
water,  while  the  circular  leaves,  often  two  feet 
broad,  float  on  the  surface.  It  is  found  also  in 
one  spot  near  Astrakhan,  but  nowhere  else  in  the 
vast  empire  of  Russia.  This  flower  is  believed 
to  be  the  "  lotus  "  of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  and 
is  often  represented  on  the  monuments  both  of 
that  country  and  India. 

An  interesting  British  aquatic,  (Stratiotes 
atoideSj)  commonly  called  water- soldier,  from  its 
sword-like  leaves,  remains  beneath  the  water 
during  the  greater  part  of  the  year,  but  at  its 
time  of  flowering  raises  itself  to  the  surface,  by 
means  of  which  the  fructifying  pollen  is  scat- 
tered upon  the  stigmata.  After  flowering,  the 
plant  sinks  again.  A  still  more  curious  means 
of  effecting  the  same  object  is  found  in  the 
Vallisneria,  a  foreign  plant,  which  grows  in 


SPRING  AND  FOUNTAIN  PLANTS.  23 

rivers  and  rapid  streams,  the  Rhine  for  exam- 
ple. In  this  plant,  the  stamens  and  pistils  grow  in 
different  flowers,  though  on  the  same  plant.  The 
pistil-bearing  flowers  are  themselves  lighter  than 
water,  and  are  placed  at  the  end  of  a  long  spiral 
stalk,  so  that  while  in  flower  the  stalk  contracts 
or  extends  much  in  the  manner  of  a  bell-spring, 
that  it  may  always  keep  the  flower  on  the 
surface  of  the  water.  No  such  provision  is  made 
for  the  stamen-bearing  flowers,  which  remain 
submerged  up  to  the  time  of  the  pollen  being 
matured  ;  as  soon  as  this  is  the  case,  the  flowers 
become  detached,  and  rise  to  the  surface,  where 
they  scatter  their  pollen  as  they  float  along,  and 
thus  the  pistilliferous  flowers  become  fertilized. 
Many  of  our  most  beautiful  wild  flowers  in 
England  are  among  the  fresh- water  plants. 
We  must  just  stay  to  name  the  water  violet, 
(Hottonia  palustris,)  the  flowering  rush,  (Buto- 
mus  umbellatus,)  the  frog-bit,  (Hydrocharis 
morsus  ranee,)  the  water  speedwell,  ( Veronica 
anagallis,)  the  arrow-head,  (Sagittaria  sagitti- 
folia,)  and  the  white  water  crowfoot,  (Eanun- 
culus  aquatilis,  and  R.  circinatus.} 

Spring  and  fountain  plants  may  be  distin- 
guished from  the  last  as  growing  in  the  clear, 
fresh  water  of  springs,  or  close  to  them.  The 
little  water  chickweed,  (Montia  fontanaj)  and 
the  brooklime  speedwell,  (  Veronica  beccabunga,) 
are  examples  of  this  kind  of  plants,  which  are, 
or  may  be,  familiar  to  every  one.  Even  hot 
springs  are  not  destitute  of  vegetation.  In 
Iceland,  many  plants  grow  close  to  the  hot 


24        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

springs  ;  some  not  far  from  the  edge  of  the 
Great  Geyser,  where  every  other  plant  is  petri- 
fied ;  and  species  of  confervce  flourish  in  a 
spring,  said  to  be  almost  hot  enough  to  boil  an 
egg.  The  influence  of  springs  on  the  surround- 
ing vegetation  is  also  great,  especially  in  the 
tropics.  In  deserts,  the  smallest  spring  forms 
in  those  climates  an  oasis,  in  which  grasses, 
juicy  cyperi,  and  bushes  grow,  and  even  here 
and  there  a  palm  rises.  In  the  barren,  sandy, 
and  parched-up  deserts  of  the  south  of  Peru, 
between  the  Cordilleras  and  the  coast,  a  spring, 
however  small,  which  rises  often  at  wide  in- 
tervals, is  the  cause  of  a  little  settlement. 
"  Often  it  supports  only  a  field  of  lucerne,  a 
little  maize  field,  and  a  few  olive  trees  ;  and  yet, 
for  the  sake  of  this  scanty  produce,  the  great 
roads  must  pass  by  such  places,  that  the  beasts 
of  burden  may  get  the  refreshment  necessary 
for  them.  Nothing  can  equal  the  dreariness 
and  death-like  stillness  in  such  regions  of  south 
Peru.  Sometimes,  for  twenty  or  thirty  miles, 
not  a  bird,  not  an  insect,  nor  a  plant  is  seen  ; 
but  the  smallest  spring  calls  from  this  dead, 
dusty  soil,  a  green  oasis  ;  and  when  rich  mines 
are  near,  is  the  source  of  great  wealth,  which 
could  not  be  obtained  without  it." 

Maritime  plants  are  such  as  choose  especially 
for  their  localities  places  within  the  influence  of 
sea-air,  or  actually  on  the  sea-coast.  A  beau- 
tiful little  plant,  with  deep  green  leaves,  and 
pretty  little  pink  flowers,  the  saltwort,  (Glaux 
maritima,)  abounds  in  damp,  turfy  spots,  near 


MARITIME  PLANTS.  25 

the  shores  of  our  own  country  ;  and  in  similar 
spots  the  handsome  purple  sea-lavender  is  to  b& 
seen  in  abundance.  On  the  coasts  of  the- 
Mediterranean,  two  fleshy-leaved  plants,  with 
inconspicuous  flowers,  (Salsola  kali,  and  Sal- 
sola  soda,)  are  found  in  great  abundance,  and 
are  burned  in  large  quantities  for  the  sake  of 
their  ashes,  which  contain  much  soda.  These, 
when  packed  in  barrels,  are  imported  into  this 
country  under  the  name  of  Barilla,  which  was 
formerly  used  extensively  in  various  manufac*- 
tures,  especially  that  of  soap,  and  is  still  to 
some  extent,  though  mostly  superseded  by  the 
use  of  soda  manufactured  from  common  salt. 

On  the  sea-coasts  of  tropical  climates,  where 
the  shores  consist  of  mould,  partly  firm  and 
partly  marshy,  and  which  are  accessible  to  the 
tide,  and  often  covered  by  it,  vast  forests  occur, 
which  frequently  extend  for  miles  along  the  coast. 
In  the  West  Indies,  South  America,  and  the 
west  coast  of  Africa,  these  consist  of  the  man- 
grove, (Rhizophora  mangle.)  This  is  a  very 
curious  tree,  seldom  exceeding  forty  or  fifty  feet 
in  height,  and  is  green  through  the  year.. 
Unlike  most  other  trees,  its  roots  are  not  all 
under  ground,  but  the  lower  portion  of  the 
stem  divides  into  roots  at  a  considerable  height 
above  the  soil,  and  these  again  subdivide,  so  as 
to  form  a  complete  vault  of  roots,  from  the 
summit  of  which  the  trunk  springs.  The  tree 
is  thus  mor,e  firmly  and  extensively  fixed  in  the 
loose,  swampy  ground,  in  which  it  flourishes.  It 
differs  from  other  plants  also  in  another  remark. 
3 


26        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

able  particular.  It  is  well  known,  that  the  seeds 
of  most  plants  do  not  germinate  or  commence 
growing  till  placed  in  the  ground,  and  warmth 
and  moisture  induce  the  germ  to  sprout.  But 
the  seeds  of  the  mangrove  germinate  as  they 
hang  upon  the  tree,  and  push  forth  a  rootlet, 
which  gradually  lengthens  until  it  readies  the 
marshy  surface  beloAv  ;  or,  if  too  high  on  the 
tree  for  this,  after  pushing  out  to  a  considerable 
length,  it  drops  from  the  tree  ;  the  thick  pointed 
root  fixes  itself  in  the  mud,  and  leaves  imme- 
diately spring  from  the  opposite  extremity. 
In  this  way,  so  dense  a  forest  is  formed,  in  a 
few  years  comparatively,  from  a  single  trunk, 
that  the  foliage  entirely  intercepts  the  rays  of 
the  sun,  and,  preventing  the  exhalation  of  the 
foul  vapours  that  arise  from  the  marshy  surface 
beneath,  becomes  one  of  the  most  unhealthy 
places  in  a  tropical  climate ;  indeed,  so  pesti- 
lential are  many  of  the  forests,  as  to  render  it 
.almost  certain  death  to  botanize  among  this 
luxuriance  of  nature.  The  network  of  roots  of 
such  a  spot  intercepts  and  collects  all  the  solid 
matters  brought  down  by  the  rivers  at  the 
mouth  of  which  these  are  often  found,  not  only 
on  the  marsh,  but  often  growing  so  far  into  the 
water  that  their  trunks  are  covered  with  shell- 
fish. They  not  only  thus  extend  along  the 
coast,  but  actually  in  many  instances  form  new 
ground  for  themselves,  and  as  a  large  part  of 
this  consists  of  decomposing  vegetable  matter, 
under  the  heat  of  a  tropical  sun,  pestilential 
vapours  are  continually  arising,  rendering  it 


PLANTS.  27 

peculiarly  dangerous  to  human  beings.  The 
surface  of  the  ground  of  a  mangrove  swamp  is 
so  soft  as  to  render  it  unsafe  for  human  feet ; 
nevertheless,  the  savage  natives  pass  over  it,  leap- 
ing from  root  to  root  for  miles,  without  once 
daring  to  trust  their  weight  upon  the  treacherous 
soil  beneath. 

In  Asia,  a  maritime  soil  prevails  very  exten- 
sively, and  forms  some  of  those  vast  .plains 
called  steppes,  a  large  extent  of  which  is  strongly 
impregnated  with  salt,  and  here  only  maritime 
and  saline  plants  will  flourish.  These  steppes 
extend  over  a  space  of  about  a  million  square 
miles,  exclusive  of  the  extensive  frozen  marshes 
of  the  north  of  Siberia,  and  extend  from  the  Sea 
of  Azov  and  the  Ural  Mountains  on  the  west,  to 
the  little  Altai  Mountains  and  the  Lena  on  the 
east.  The  vegetation  upon  them  consists  of 
comparatively  few  species,  and  those  are  stunted; 
among  the  most  conspicuous  are  the  sea  laven- 
der, (Statice  tatarica,)  a  species  of  salt-wort, 
(Salsola  prostrata,)  some  species  of  liquorice, 
(GlycyrrMza  hirsuta,  and  G.  Icevisj)  the  latter 
the  liquorice-root  of  our  shops,  with  some 
others.  On  our  own  shores,  the  eryngo, 
(Eryngium  maritimum,)  with  its  beautiful  blue 
heads  of  flowers  and  bluish- white  foliage,  forms 
a  striking  object. 

Sand  plants  are  those  which  thrive,  alone  or 
nearly  so,  in  silicious  sand.  They  are  of  a 
peculiar  character  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  and 
the  greater  number  are  probably  grasses  and 
their  allies.  Three  of  these  plants  especially,  the 


28        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

sand-reed,  or  marrams,  (Ammophila  arenariaj) 
the  sand-sedge,  (Carex  arenaria,)  and  the  sea 
lime-grass,  (Elymus  arenarius,)  have  been  es- 
pecially useful  in  restraining  the  encroachments 
of  the  sea  on  sandy  shores.  This  they  do  by 
their  long,  creeping  shoots  and  tough,  tangled 
roots,  which,  running  among  the  sands  in  every 
direction,  so  bind  them  together,  that  they  offer 
a  resistance  rarely  overcome  by  the  force  of 
storms,  and  are  renewed  as  fast  as  they  are 
destroyed.  When  these  natural  defences  have 
been  uprooted  by  the  thoughtlessness  or  igno- 
rance of  man,  the  most  serious  evils  have  arisen. 
In  Scotland,  for  example,  large  tracts  of  once 
fertile  country  Jiave  been  rendered  barren  by 
the  encroachment  of  sand-hills,  which  have 
given  them  the  desert-like  aspect  of  Egyptian 
plains ;  and  this  encroachment  has  resulted 
from  the  destruction  of  the  mat-grasses,  which 
were  pulled  up  by  the  country  people  for  fuel 
to  such  an  extent,  that  an  act  of  parliament  was 
passed,  about  one  hundred  years  ago,  rendering 
it  punishable  to  do  so. 

Chalk  plants  grow  on  calcareous  soils.  Among 
these  may  be  enumerated  many  of  our  prettiest 
wild  plants  in  England,  as  the  yellow  wort, 
(Chlora  perfoliata^)  the  squinancy  wort,  or  small 
woodruff,  (Asperula  cynanclrica,)  and  most  of 
our  native  species  of  the  orchis  tribe,  which 
adorn  many  a  chalky  spot  with  their  beautiful 
flowers.  One  considerable  genus  of  plants 
(Gypsophild)  is  only  found  on  rocks  composed 
of  gypsum,  or  sulphate  of  lime. 


TURF,  BOG,  AND  MARSH  PLANTS.       29 

Turf,  bog,  and  marsh  plants  are  found  in 
great  variety  in  our  own  country,  and  they 
abound  in  foreign  lands.  The  sundew,  (Drosera,) 
of  which  we  have  three  native  species,  is  a 
common  inhabitant  of  spongy  bogs,  and  may 
serve  as  an  example.  Its  leaves,  disposed  in  a 
circle  around  the  root,  are  of  a  beautiful  reddish 
colour,  and  are  covered  with  numerous  long 
hairs,  standing  erect,  and  when  the  sun  shines 
bright  and  warm,  each  hair  is  tipped  with  a 
transparent  globule  of  viscid  matter.  Let  any 
poor  fiy  or  other  insect  alight  upon  one  of  these 
leaves,  and  if  not  powerful  enough  immediately 
to  escape,  it  becomes  entangled  in  the  viscid 
secretion,  and  then  the  hairs  gradually  bend 
over  it,  and  bind  it  down  to  die.  In  some  of 
the  swamps  of  Carolina,  in  North  America,  is 
found  the  Venus's  fly-trap,  (Dioncea  mustipula,) 
which  presents  a  remarkable  analogy  to  this 
plant.  Its  leaves  are  furnished  with  a  row  of 
teeth,  or  rather  bristles,  on  each  side,  and  so 
irritable  is  the  leaf,  that  if  touched  by  any  sub- 
stance, or  especially  if  an  insect  alights  upon  it, 
the  sides  instantly  collapse,  the  teeth  lock  one 
into  another,  like  the  teeth  of  a  rat-trap, 
and  cannot  be  separated  again  without  force. 
Another  beautiful  plant,  which  abounds  on 
moory  ground,  especially  in  the  north  of  Eng- 
land, is  the  cotton  grass.  The  seeds  of  this 
plant  (which  grow  together  in  heads)  are  sur- 
rounded as  they  ripen  by  a  number  of  fine 
hairs,  of  a  pure  white  colour  and  beautiful 
silky  texture,  so  that,  when  ripe,  the  spike  pre- 
3* 


30  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

sents  an  elegant  tuft  of  silvery  hairs.  Their 
structure  unfits  them  for  weaving  into  any 
fabric,  but  in  the  northern  counties  of  England 
and  Scotland  they  are  much  used  by  the  poor 
for  stuffing  pillows. 

Bock  and  gravel  plants.  These  generally 
grow  on  bare  rocks  or  dry  gravel ;  the  cactus 
and  stonecrop  tribes,  many  of  the  ferns,  lichens, 
and  mosses,  are  examples.  In  the  gravel  which 
is  formed  by  the  action  of  mountain-torrents, 
especially  at  lofty  elevations,  are  found  some 
peculiar  plants,  such  as  Ranunculus  glacialis, 
which  adorns  heights  otherwise  barren,  and 
bordering  on  the  regions  of  perpetual  snow. 
Here  we  may  also  mention  mountain  plants, 
which,  as  their  name  implies,  grow  especially 
on  mountain  ranges.  Their  number  is  very 
great,  though  numbers  of  species  which  are 
sometimes  found  on  mountains  cannot  properly 
be  said  to  be  mountain  plants,  as  will  be  seen 
when  we  come  to  speak  of  the  influence  of 
altitude.  One  example  will  suffice  at  present. 
On  the  Himalayan  mountains,  at  the  height  of 
from  five  thousand  to  nine  thousand  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  sea,  the  vegetation  assumes  a 
perfectly  European  aspect.  Though  situated  in 
a  tropical  country,  the  great  elevation  produces 
such  a  diminution  of  temperature,  that  at  that 
height  the  climate  resembles  that  of  our  own 
country,  and  the  plants  are  also  very  similar. 
The  dandelion,  the  ivy,  our  common  meadow 
grasses,  (Poa  annua  and  Alopecurus  genicu 
atus,) cleavers,  (Galium  aparine,)imd  a  number 


WOOD,  BUSH,  AND  FOREST  PLANTS.  31 

of  other  common  English  plants,  abound 
there. 

Cultivated  ground  plants  are  those  which 
appear  in  spots  in  which  other  plants  are  cul- 
tivated, though  not  artificially  sown  there. 
Such  are  the  numerous  weeds  of  our  corn- 
fields, such  as  the  red  poppy,  (Papaver  rhceas, 
P.  dubium,  etc.,)  the  blue  bottle,  (Centaurea 
cyanus,)  the  charlock,  (Sinapis  arvensis,)  and 
many  others. 

Field,  meadow,  and  pasture  plants  need  but 
little  enumeration.  The  situations  which  their 
name  indicates  are  so  familiar  to  every  eye 
used  to  country  scenery,  that  all  must  be  ac- 
quainted with  those  most  common  in  our  native 
land,  while  those  of  foreign  climes  need  but 
little  notice  at  present.  Grasses  form  the  prin- 
cipal portion  of  these  plants,  and  the  speedwells, 
(Veronica,)  the  field  forget-me-not,  (Myosotis 
arvensis^)  the  white  and  red  clovers,  the  butter- 
cups, (Ranunculus,)  the  field  gentian,  (Gentiana 
campestris,)  and  many  others,  adorn  our  fields 
and  pastures. 

i  Wood,  lush,  and  forest  plants  are  also  pretty 
well  indicated  by  their  name.  There  are  many 
beautiful  plants  of  this  kind  in  our  country,  one 
of  the  most  striking  of  which  is  the  bush-vetch, 
(Vicia  sylvatica,)  which  is  the  most  elegant 
climber  of  our  woods  and  forests,  though  it  is 
but  rarely  met  with.  Linnrna  borealis,  a  creep- 
ing plant,  of  humble  size  and  growth,  with 
pretty  little  pinkish .  flowers,  grows  in  our 
northern  fir-woods,  and  is  the  plant  selected4o 


32  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

commemorate  by  its  name  the  illustrious 
Swede,  the  reformer  of  all  previous  systems  of 
natural  history,  and  especially  of  botany. 
Among  other  wood  plants  of  our  land  may  be 
mentioned  the  lily  of  the  valley,  (Convaltaria 
•najalis,)  Solomon's  seal,  (Convallaria  multi- 
flora^)  the  wood-ferns,  (Lastrcea  multiflora,  and 
L.  filix  mas,)  the  herb  Paris,  (Paris  quadrifo- 
Ucfj)  the  ophrys,  (Epipactis  latifolia,)  the  sweet- 
peas,  (Lathyrus  sylvestris,  and  L.  latifolius,)  the 
butterfly  orchis,  (Habenaria  clilorantha,)  and  a 
multitude  of  other  interesting  plants.  Of  the 
trees  which  compose  the  woods  and  forests  of 
our  globe,  and  of  the  smaller  forest  plants  of 
tropical  countries,  we  shall  have  occasion  to 
speak  somewhat  at  length  presently,  and,  there- 
fore, may  the  better  omit  notice  of  them  just 
now. 

Heath  plants  are  those  which  grow  on  the  ex- 
tensive commons  called  heaths.  These,  though 
well  known  and  very  extensive  in  some  districts 
of  our  own  land,  are  far  surpassed  in  extent  by 
those  of  Prussia,  Poland,  and  Bussia ;  as,  for 
example,  the  vast  heaths  of  Luneberg,  which  are 
said  to  cover  a  space  of  six  thousand  square  miles. 
These  immense  tracts  of  land  are  covered  with 
the  common  heath,  (Calluna  vulgaris,)  which 
is  often  spread  over  very  extensive  surfaces, 
allowing  no  other  plant  to  grow  ;  though  occa- 
sionally considerable  quantities  of  furze,  (  Ulex^) 
broom,  (Cytisus  scoparius^)  and  brake,  (Pteris 
aquilina^)  are  found  amongst  it.  We  have 
already  alluded  to  the  vast  numbers  of  heaths 


PARASITES  AND  EPIPHYTES.  S3 

which  clothe  the  plains  of  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope. 

Parasites  and  Epiphytes.  These  are  very 
singular  plants  in  their  appearance,  their 
structure,  and  their  habits  and  manner  of 
growth.  They  obtain  their  nutriment,  nov 
from  the  soil,  like  other  plants,  but  by  fixing 
themselves  upon  trees  or  herbaceous  plants, 
whose  juices  they  absorb,  and  upon  which  they 
prey.  We  have  but  few  of  these  plants  native 
in  our  own  country,  but  in  foreign  countries,  in 
tropical  climes,  they  swarm,  especially  in  the 
dense  forests  of  equinoctial  countries.  One  of 
our  British  parasites,  the  broom-rape,  (Oro- 
banche  major,)  fixes  itself  upon  the  roots  of  the 
broom.  Another  species,  (Orobanche  minor,) 
may  not  unfrequently  be  found  in  clover-fields, 
growing  upon  the  roots  of  the  red  clover. 

A  plant,  which  has  of  late  years  proved  very 
obnoxious  to  farmers  in  several  parts  of  the 
country,  is  a  parasite  called  the  clover-dodder, 
{Cuscuta  trifolii.)  It  generally  grows  upon  the 
red  clover,  though  occasionally  it  will  attack 
other  plants.  Its  habit  is  singular.  Its  seeds, 
when  ripe,  drop  into  the  earth,  where,  in  pro- 
cess of  time,  they  germinate,  and  send  forth  a 
little  snake-like  stem,  which  binds  round  the 
first  suitable  plant  it  meets  with.  As  the  stem 
lengthens,  it  puts  forth  from  its  sides  little 
conical  rootlets  or  suckers,  which  penetrate  the 
bark  of  the  plant  around  which  it  has  twisted, 
and  by  these  it  extracts  the  sap  from  its  sup- 
porter. After  it  has  in  this  manner  inserted 


84        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

several  of  these  suckers,  the  root  dies,  and  the 
dodder  thenceforth  derives  all  its  nourishment 
from  the  plant  to  which  it  has  attached  itself. 
As  it  still  further  lengthens,  it  puts  forth  at 
intervals  globular  heads  of  pinkish  or  yellowish 
flowers,  which  in  due  time  perfect  seeds,  and 
being  shed  upon  the  earth  repeat  the  same  pro- 
cess. The  plant  on  which  it  thus  preys  is  com- 
monly killed  through  the  exhaustion  of  its  juices 
by  the  parasite  which  lives  on  it,  and  whole 
fields  of  clover  have  been  recently  destroyed  by 
the  rapid  growth  and  extension  of  this  destruc- 
tive plant. 

A  gigantic  species  is  mentioned  as  growing 
in  Affghanistan,  which  even  preys  upon  itself; 
one  of  its  masses  half  covered  a  willow  tree, 
twenty  or  thirty  feet  high.  The  mistletoe 
(Viscum  album)  is  another  parasite,  which  is 
well-known  in  this  country.  Though  now  only 
associated  with  the  festivities  of  Christmas,  it 
was  formerly  employed  by  the  Druids  in  their 
worship,  and  esteemed  by  them  a  sacred  plant. 
It  was  gathered  with  many  superstitious  cere- 
monies, and  used  by  them  in  those  awful 
human  sacrifices,  which  often  stained  the  soil, 
while  our  country,  unblessed  by  the  light  of  the 
glorious  gospel,  was  sunk  in  the  grossest  hea- 
then idolatry,  and  but  too  plainly  proved  the 
truth  of  the  Scripture  declaration,  that  "  the 
dark  places  of  the  earth  are  full  of  the  habi- 
tations of  cruelty." 

A  foreign  plant,  (Loranthus,)  very  nearly 
allied  to  the  mistletoe,  is  in  warm  countries  a 


THE  ORCHIS  TRIBE.  35 

beautiful  object,  its  brilliant  scarlet  flowers 
forming  a  most  striking  contrast  with  the  dark 
green  leaves  of  the  plant  by  which  it  is  sup- 
ported. But  the  most  interesting  and  remark- 
able parasites,  or  rather  epiphytes,  with  which 
we  are  acquainted,  are  the  singular  species  of 
the  Orchis  tribe,  which  abound  in  the  tropical 
forests  of  South  America,  and  the  south-east 
of  Asia.  "  Seated  on  the  branches  of  living 
trees,  or  resting  among  the  decayed  bark  of 
fallen  trunks,  or  running  over  mossy  rocks,  or 
hanging  above  the  head  of  the  admiring  tra- 
veller, suspended  from  the  gigantic  arm  of  some 
monarch  of  the  forest,  they  develop  flowers  of 
the  gayest  colours,  and  the  most  varied  forms, 
and  often  fill  the  woods  at  night  with  their 
mild  and  delicate  fragrance.  For  a  long  time 
such  plants  were  thought  incapable  of  being 
made  to  submit  to  the  care  of  the  gardener, 
and  Europeans  remained  almost  ignorant  of 
the  most  curious  tribe  in  the  whole  vegetable 
kingdom.  But  it  has  been  discovered  of  late 
years,  that  by  care  and  perseverance  they  may 
be  brought  to  as  much  perfection  in  a  hot- 
house as  they  acquire  in  their  native  woods, 
and  they  now  form  the  pride  of  the  best  col- 
lections in  England."  The  celebrated  air-plants, 
so  highly  esteemed  by  the  inhabitants  of  China 
and  Japan,  are  epiphytes  of  this  kind,  natives 
of  those  countries,  but  which  have  the  remark- 
able power  of  obtaining  sufficient  moisture  from 
the  atmosphere  to  maintain  them  in  a  luxuriant 
condition  for  weeks  and  even  months,  when 


36        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

suspended  by  strings  from  the  ceiling  of  a 
room.  In  this  state  they  will  grow  for  some 
time,  blossoming  freely,  and  their  beauty  and 
fragrance  cause  them  to  be  regarded  as  favour- 
ite ornaments. 

In  having  thus  enumerated  the  principal 
kinds  of  soil  and  situation  which  plants  inhabit, 
it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  every  known 
species  might  be  ranked  under  one  or  other  of 
these,  for  there  are  many .  plants  which  will 
grow  in  several  stations  indifferently  ;  thus  our 
common  thrift,  (Armeria  maritima,)  though 
generally  found  as  a  maritime  plant,  growing 
abundantly  in  marshes  and  pastures  on  the 
sea-coast,  is  sometimes  found  far  away  from 
the  sea-air,  at  a  considerable  altitude  on  moun- 
tains, and  it  will  also  grow  freely  in  the  most 
inland  gardens,  as  a  cultivated  plant.  The 
majority  of  plants,  however,  prefer  a  particular 
situation,  such  as  one  of  those  we  have  indicated, 
having  the  conditions  suitable  to  its  growth, 
and  will  not  succeed  well  in  any  other. 


INFLUENCE  OF  CLIMATE.  37 


CHAPTER  II. 

Influence  of  climate— Light  and  heat— Chemical  actions- 
Zones  —  Isothermal  lines— Summer  temperature  —  Eqii- 
noctial  zone— Baobab— Age  of  trees— Bombax— Mahogany 
—Orchis  —  Climbers  —  Rafilesia  —  Tropical  forests  —Cacao- 
nut— Woorali  poison  —  Cassava  —  Palms— Cocoa-nut— Sago 
palm — Arborescent  grasses — Bamboo — Sugar-cane — Cotton 

—  Scitamineae  —  Gutta  percha  — Camphor  — Spice  Islands 

—  Nutmeg  —  Clove  —  Cinnamon  —  Pepper  —  Nettles— Upas 
— Java — The  forbidden  fruit. 

HAVING  endeavoured  to  trace  the  influence 
of  soil  and  situation  on  the  growth  of  plants, 
we  shall  now  consider  the  influence  of  climate 
upon  them.  "We  have  already  stated,  that  light 
and  heat  are  two  of  the  most  important  agents 
in  influencing  the  vegetation  of  a  country,  and 
as  these  are  more  intense  in  proportion  as  we 
approach  the  equator,  there  vegetation  is  more 
luxuriant ;  and  as  all  the  conditions  of  their 
growth  are  thus  most  fully  met,  the  greater 
number  of  species  met  with  there  will  not  sur- 
Diise  us.  But  it  may  be  well  to  explain  the 
way  in  which  light  and  heat  act  upon  plants. 
Plants  are  nourished  by  carbonic  acid,  which 
they  derive  partly  from  the  soil  and  partly  from, 
the  air,  and  though  the  latter  contains  this  gas 
only  in  the  proportion  of  one  part  in  a  thou- 
sand, yet  this  is  sufficient  to  answer  all  the 
4 


38        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

purposes  of  vegetable  life.  A  process,  similar 
to  that  of  respiration  in  animals,  is  continually 
going  on  in  plants,  but  with  a  remarkable 
difference.  Carbonic  acid  is  being  continually 
absorbed  both  by  the  roots  and  leaves  of  plants, 
especially  during  the  day  ;  while,  under  the 
influence  of  light  and  heat,  this  absorbed  acid 
is  decomposed  by  the  vessels  of  the  plant,  the 
carbon  being  taken  up  and  assimilated  as 
nutriment,  and  the  oxygen  exhaled  and  re- 
turned to  the  air  ;  but,  during  the  night,  car- 
bonic acid  is  given  off  unaltered  in  its  nature, 
light  being  absolutely  necessary  for  its  decom- 
position. This  will  explain  and  corroborate 
the  common  notion  that  plants  in  a  sleeping- 
room  are  unhealthy  at  night,  as  the  carbonic 
acid,  which  is  given  off,  is  injurious.  It  will 
easily  be  seen,  also,  that  in  the  tropics,  where 
there  is  a  clear,  unclouded  sky,  and  where  light 
and  heat  are  most  intense,  oxygen  will  be 
thrown  off  during  the  day  in  the  greatest 
abundance.  This  explains  the  greater  luxuri- 
ance of  vegetation  in  those  regions,  the  stimu- 
lating influence  of  these  agents  causing  a  much 
larger  amount  of  nutriment  to  be  appropriated. 
On  the  contrary,  in  the  higher  latitudes,  where 
light  is  feebler  and  the  vegetation  less  vigorous, 
carbonic  acid  is  given  out  in  surplus  quantity. 
The  currents  of  the  air,  however,  and  the 
winds,  restore  the  equilibrium,  the  oxygen  of 
the  tropics  being  carried  towards  the  poles. 
and  the  carbonic  acids  of  the  colder  climate  in 
the  direction  of  the  equator,  to  feed  the  thick 


CHEMICAL  ACTIONS.  39 

and  rank  growth  of  the  plants  and  trees  ol 
those  latitudes.  The  influence  of  light  is  equally 
necessary  to  promote  those  peculiar  combina- 
tions of  the  elementary  constituents  of  plants 
which  are  termed  their  secretions,  a»d  which, 
in  fact,  render  the  vegetable  creation  of  such 
vast  importance  to  man.  Starch,  sugar,  oils, 
gum,  caoutchouc,  acids,  dyes,  camphor,  opium, 
the  vegetable  alkalies,  and  a  great  variety  of 
other  principles,  are  thus  formed  ;  and  if  the 
growing  plant  be  deprived  of  any  portion  of  the 
degree  of  light  necessary  for  it,  these  secretions 
will  not  be  formed,  or  only  in  diminished 
quantity. 

A  tropical  plant  of  the  composite  order, 
nearly  allied  to  our  rag-worts  and  groundsels, 
(  Cacalia  ficoides,)  illustrates  this  power  of  solar 
light.  Its  leaves  combine  with  the  oxygen  of 
the  atmosphere  during  the  night,  and  are  as 
sour  as  sorrel  in  the  morning  ;  as  the  sun  rises, 
they  gradually  lose  their  oxygen,  and  become 
tasteless  at  noon  ;  and  by  the  continued  action 
of  light  they  lose  more  and  more,  till  towards 
evening  they  become  bitter.  The  amount  of 
heat  and  cold  which  some  plants  will  bear  is 
very  considerable.  While  plants  are  at  rest  in 
the  winter  they  can  bear  a  high  degree  of  cold 
without  injury.  In  those  regions  of  Siberia 
where  the  cold  is  known  to  freeze  quicksilver, 
(forty  degrees  below  zero,)  the  vegetation  in- 
summer  is  much  more  luxuriant  than  that  of 
the  North  Cape,  where  cold  such  as  is  felt  in 
Siberia  is  quite  unknown.  This  same  amount 


40  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

of  cold  (40°)  is  insufficient  to  destroy  the 
vitality  of  seeds.  It  requires  a  heat  of 
122°. 

In  proceeding  to  consider  more  definitely 
the  influence  of  various  climates  upon  the 
vegetable  world,  we  cannot  do  better  than 
follow  the  system  of  baron  Hmnboldt,  than 
whom  no  man  has  more  successfully  studied 
this  department  of  botanical  science.  He  pro- 
poses to  divide  each  hemisphere  into  eight 
zones,  or  bands,  namely  : — 

1.  The  Equatorial  Zone,  from  the  Equator  to  15°  N.  or  s.  iat. 

2.  The  Tropical  Zone,  from  15°  to  the  Tropics. 

3.  The  Sub-tropical  Zone,  from  the  Tropics  to  34°  N.  or  s.  Iat. 

4.  The  Warmer  Temperate  Zone,  from  34°  to  45°  Iat. 

5.  The  Colder  Temperate  Zone,  from  45<>  to  58°  Iat. 

6.  The  Sub-arctic  Zone,  from  58°  to  the  Arctic  or  Antarctic 

Circles. 

7.  The  Arctic  Zone,  from  the  Arctic  or  Antarctic  Circles  to 

72°  Iat. 

8.  The  Polar  Zone,  from  72°  Iat.  to  the  Pole. 

In  adopting  these  zones,  as  usefully  exhibit- 
ing  the  influence  of  climate  upon  vegetation  in 
general,  it  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  two  or 
three  particulars.  One  of  these  is,  that  it  by 
no  means  follows,  that  because  two  places  are 
situated  on  the  same  parallel  of  latitude,  that 
their  temperature  and  climate  are  therefore  the 
same.  Thus,  though  Quebec  is  in  the  latitude  of 
Paris,  the  country  is  covered  with  deep  snow 
four  or  five  months  in  the  year  ;  and  it  has 
occurred,  that  a  summer  has  passed  there  in 
which  not  more  than  sixty  days  have  been  free 
from  frost.  Eome,  Pekin,  and  New  York  very 
nearly  agree  in  their  latitude,  but  differ  widely 
both  in  their  climates  and  productions.  The 


SUMMER  TEMPERATURE.  41 

plants  of  Palestine.  Florida,  and  the  Carolinas 
also,  differ  widely  from  each  other,  though  dif- 
fering but  little  in  latitude.  Isothermal  lines 
have,  therefore,  been  constructed  by  naturalists, 
that  is,  imaginary  lines  passing  through  those 
places  whose  mean  annual  temperature  is  the 
same.  Thus,  an  isothermal  line  may  be  drawn 
through  Dublin,  London,  Manheim,  in  Ger- 
many, and  Vienna,  in  each  of  which  the 
average  annual  temperature  is  50°.  But  it  has 
been  found  by  observation,  that  it  by  no  means 
follows  that  the  summer  is  equally  hot,  and  the 
winter  equally  cold,  at  each  of  these  places,  for 
it  appears  that  an  isothermal  line  passing  from 
west  to  east  over  the  continent  will,  on  an  aver- 
age, have  a  higher  summer  temperature  and  a 
lower  winter  one,  as  it  proceeds  eastward.  This 
will  be  shown  on  the  above  line. 

Mean  Mean  Mean  Differ- 

Annual  Summer  Winter  ences. 

Temperature.      Temperature.     Temperature. 

Dublin    ...    5Qo    ...    59°    ...    41°  ...     18<> 

London  ...    50      ...    63      ...    39  ...     24 

Manheim    .     .    50      ...    67      ...    33  ...    34 

Vienna    ...    50      ...    69      ...    32  ...    37 

Thus,  Vienna,  though  far  hotter  in  summer 
than  Dublin,  has  a  much  colder  winter.  The 
amount  of  average  summer  temperature  is, 
however,  of  more  importance  to  the  range  of 
some  plants  than  the  mean  annual  temperature, 
inasmuch  as  they  flourish  and  ripen  their  seeds 
before  the  cold  of  winter  conies  on.  This  is 
singularly  exemplified  at  the  Land's-end,  in 
England.  Here  the  summer  temperature  is  so 
low,  that  the  vine,  apricot,  and  greengage  will 
4* 


42        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

not  produce  ripe  fruit,  and  the  winter  is  so 
mild  that  the  myrtle,  camellia,  and  other  green- 
house plants,  grow  luxuriantly  in  the  open  air 
all  the  year  round.  In  the  northern  hemi- 
sphere of  the  globe,  all  the  eastern  coasts  of 
continents  and  islands  are  colder  than  the 
western  coasts  of  the  same  latitudes.  This  is 
confirmed  by  repeated  observations,  though  we 
cannot  tell  why.  Ireland,  England,  and  Bel- 
gium, have  the  same  isothermal  line,  but  on 
the  eastern  coast  of  Asia  it  passes  just  above 
Pekin,  in  China,  which  is  12°  nearer  the 
equator.  Pekin  has  the  same  parallel  of  lati- 
tude with  the  south  of  Italy  and  Toledo,  in 
Spain,  where  the  orange  flourishes,  and  many  a 
tropical  plant ;  but  at  Pekin,  the  winter's  cold 
is  far  greater  than  in  Great  Britain,  and  falls 
short  by  only  two  or  three  degrees  of  that  at 
North  Cape.  Canada  is  further  south  than 
Paris,  yet  it  shows  the  temperature  of  Droii- 
theim,  in  Norway.  The  trees  which  grow  at 
New  York,  in  the  latitude  of  Naples,  flower  at 
the  same  time  as  they  do  at  Upsal.  Norway, 
exposed  to  the  moist  and  temperate  atmosphere 
of  the  ocean,  enjoys  a  singularly  mild  winter, 
but  receives  very  little  of  the  sun's  rays  in 
summer.  Lapland  has  a  colder  winter,  but  a 
warmer  summer  ;  and,  accordingly,  it  is  found 
that  such  plants  as  require  only  a  few  weeks  of 
warm  weather  to  bring  them  to  perfection, 
succeed  in  Lapland,  though  they  will  not  grow 
in  Norway  ;  while  those  which  are  easily  killed 
by  severe  frost,  flourish  better  in  Norway  than 


THE  EQUINOCTIAL  ZONE.  43 

In  Lapland.  These  facts,  which  might  easily 
be  multiplied,  sufficiently  prove  the  statement 
made  ;  but  though  we  cannot  doubt  the  fact, 
the  cause  is  by  no  means  so  obvious.  We  must, 
however,  leave  this,  and  proceed  to  review 
the  various  zoneij  and  their  productions. 

First,  then,  The.  Equinoctial  Zone  extends  for 
15°  on  each  side  of  the  equator,  and  has  a  mean 
annual  temperature  of  78°  to  82°  Fahr.,  a  heat 
which,  with  a  high  degree  of  atmospherical 
moisture,  calls  forth  an  extraordinary  profusion 
of  vegetation,  of  the  greatest  variety  of  form 
and  most  brilliant  colours.  The  principal 
countries  embraced  in  these  limits  ire  Central 
Africa,  including  the  Guinea  Coast,  and  Abys- 
sinia, etc.,  Ceylon,  the  southernmost  part  of 
Hindostan,  Malaya,  Cochin  China,  Sumatra, 
Borneo,  Java,  New  Guinea,  and  the  multitude 
of  islands  in  that  part  of  the  eastern  seas,  the 
northernmost  portion  of  Australia,  and  the 
northern  part  of  South  America,  including 
Columbia,  Peru,  the  Guianas,  and  part  of 
Brazil.  This  zone  is  characterized  by  the 
gigantic  forests  so  peculiar  to  the  tropics. 
"  The  atmosphere  of  these  forests,  where  vapour 
is  continually  ascending,  is  oppressively  hot 
and  damp.  The  shrill  pipe  of  the  large 
crickets,  high  up  in  the  tops  of  the  trees,  and 
the  loud  croaking  of  the  horrid  vampyre,  the 
flying-dog,  and  blood-sucker,  often  for  days 
accompany  the  wanderer  in  the  forests  of 
India."  Palms,  bananas,  orchises,  arborescent 
grasses,  and  gigantic  climbers,  are  among  the 


44  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

most  characteristic  plants  seen  in  the  zone, 
The  immense  size  of  some  of  the  trees  of  this 
region  excites  universal  astonishment.  The 
Baobab,  or  monkey-bread,  (Adansonia  digitata,} 
a  native  of  Senegal,  Cape  de  Verd  Islands, 
Egypt,  and  Nubia,  is  one  of  tlie  most  gigantic 
trees  known.  The  trunks  of  this  species  are 
found  of  the  enormous  size  of  from  seventy  to 
one  hundred  feet  in  circumference  ;  the  spread 
of  the  branches  is  extensive  ;  main  roots  have 
been  traced  to  the  distance  of  one  hundred  feet 
from  the  main  stem.  The  height  of  these 
enormous  stems  is  not  by  any  means  in  pro- 
portion to  their  size,  frequently  not  much  ex- 
ceeding their  diameter,  this  being  often  thirty- 
four  feet,  while  the  tree  itself  is  rarely  more 
than  fifty  or  sixty  feet  high.  It  covers  the 
sandy  plains  so  entirely  with  its  umbrella-shaped 
top,  that  a  forest  of  these  trees  presents  a  com- 
pact surface,  which  at  some  distance  seems  to 
be  a  green  field.  Cape  Verd  has  its  name 
from  the  numbers  that  conceal  the  barren  soil 
under  their  spreading  tops.  The  hollowr  trunks 
of  the  baobab  are  often  so  capacious,  that  several 
negro  families  will  take  up  their  abode  in  one. 
The  gigantic  size  of  these  trees  has  often 
astonished  the  traveller,  and  has  led  to  investi- 
gations with  regard  to  their  probable  age.  It 
is  known  to  most  observers,  that  the  principal 
forest  trees  (in  our  own  country,  all)  increase 
by  coatings  from  -without,  and  that  the  concen- 
tric rings  visible  on  cutting  across  the  stem, 
afford  an  indication  of  the  age,  each  ring  being 


THE  EQUINOCTIAL  ZONE.  45 

the  produce  of  a  year  ;  the  greater  or  less 
breadth  of  the  rings  also  exhibiting  the  com- 
parative favourableness  of  the  season.  If  the 
number  of  rings  in  a  transverse  section  are 
counted,  and  the  girth  ascertained  by  mea- 
surement, data  are  obtained,  by  which  an  ap- 
proximation may  be  made  to  the  age  of  any 
other  tree  of  the  same  species  still  growing. 
The  yew  is  the  longest  lived  of  any  European 
tree.  A  yew,  at  Fountain  Abbey,  is  consi- 
dered to  be  1,214  years  old.  One  at  Crow- 
hurst,  in  Surrey,  was  1,400  years  old,  when 
measured  by  Evelyn  ;  another  at  Fotherngill,  in 
Scotland,  was  between  2,500,  and  2,600  years 
old  ;  and  another  at  Braburn,  in  Kent,  3,000 
years  of  age.  Oaks  are  considered  to  live 
1,500  or  1,600  years.  One  in  Welbecklane 
was  computed  by  Evelyn  to  be  1,400  years 
old.  Chesnut- trees  are  known  to  live  900 
years ;  lime-trees  have  attained  500  or  600 
years  in  France.  The  alpine  willow,  which 
covers  the  ground  with  its  leaves,  although  it 
is  really  a  subterranean  tree,  is  long  lived. 
An  ivy,  near  Montpellier,  six  feet  in  circum- 
ference, must  be  485  years  old.  Eight  olive- 
trees  on  the  Mount  of  Olives  are  supposed  to  be 
800  years  old  ;  it  is,  at  least,  certain  that  they 
existed  before  the  taking  of  Jerusalem  by  the 
Turks.  The  largest  cedar  on  Mount  Lebanon  is 
nine  feet  in  diameter,  and  is  probably  of  the  age 
of  800  or  900  years.  Two  cedars  in  the  Botanic 
Garden  at  Chelsea  were  mentioned  600  years 
ago 


46        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

All  these,  however,  are  far  distanced  by  the 
tree  which  has  led  to  these  remarks — the  Baobab 
of  Senegal,  one  of  which  was  estimated  to  be 
5,150  years  old  ;  yet  baron  Humboldt  con- 
siders a  cypress  in  the  garden  Chapullepec  to 
be  still  older;  it  had  already  reached  a  great  ag^ 
when  Montezuma  was  on  the  throne  of  Mexico, 
in  1520.  But  to  return  from  this  digression  : 
the  Bombax,  or  silk  cotton  tree,  is  another  of 
these  equinoctial  trees  of  gigantic  life.  From 
the  excessive  abundance  of  the  pith,  its  trunks 
increase  prodigiously  in  thickness,  and  lose 
the  common  cylindrical  shape,  appearing  like 
huge  casks,  thirty  or  forty  feet  high,  and  of 
proportionate  circumference.  It  is  often  em- 
ployed for  making  canoes,  and  a  single  trunk 
has  been  known  to  hold  one  hundred  and  fifty 
men.  It  derives  its  name  from  the  silky  cha- 
racter of  the  hairs,  which  surround  the  seeds 
just  as  the  wool  of  the  true  cotton  does.  It 
cannot,  however,  be  spun  into  threads,  the 
peculiar  smoothness  of  the  hairs  preventing 
them  from  binding  together,  while  on  the  true 
cotton  there  are  minute  roughnesses  on  the 
filaments,  which  materially  serve  this  purpose. 

Among  the  other  gigantic  trees  of  the  equi- 
noctial zone,  we  may  mention  various  species  of 
the  Mimosa,  (often  called  Acacia,)  the  maho- 
gany tree,  (Sivietenia^)  the  Brazil  wood,  (Ccesal- 
pinia,)  the  locust  tree,  (Hymenwa,)  bread  fruit 
tree,  (Artocarpus,)  cashew  nut,  (Anacardium,) 
custard  apple,  (Anona,)  etc.  Martins  repre- 
sents a  scene  in  Brazil,  where  some  trees  of  the 


THE  EQUINOCTIAL  ZONE.  47 

Jocust  kind  occurred  of  such  enormous  dimen- 
sions, that  fifteen  Indians,  with  outstretched 
arms,  could  only  just  embrace  them.  At  the 
bottom  they  were  eighty-four  feet  in  circum- 
ference, and  sixty-feet  where  the  boles  became 
cylindrical.  By  counting  the  annual  rings  of 
growth  in  such  parts  as  were  accessible,  he 
arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  they  were  of  the 
age  of  Homer.  The  mahogany  tree  inhabits 
this  zone,  and  flourishes  in  most  soils,  but 
that  which  grows  on  dry  rocky  ground  is 
most  esteemed,  as  it  has  the  richest  colour, 
takes  the  highest  polish,  and  is  the  hardest 
wood. 

The  trees  are  felled  at  two  seasons — after 
Christmas  and  towards  Midsummer.  The  logs 
are  generally  then  conveyed  to  the  rivers,  where 
they  are  precipitated  into  the  stream,  down 
which  they  are  floated  to  the  "  booms,"  which 
are  large  cables  stretched  across  the  stream  at 
particular  spots.  Sometimes  the  boom  breaks 
with  the  pressure,  and  then  more  than  a  thou- 
sand logs  are  hurried  out  to  sea,  and  irrecover- 
ably lost.  Some  years  ago,  Messrs.  Broad- 
wood,  the  pianoforte  manufacturers,  gave  the 
enormous  sum  of  £3,000  for  three  logs  of 
mahogany,  each  about  fifteen  feet  long  and 
thirty-eight  inches  square,  and  the  produce  of  a 
single  tree.  The  wood  was  especially  beautiful, 
capable  of  receiving  the  highest  polish,  and 
when  polished  reflecting  the  light  in  the  most 
varied  manner,  and  from  the  wavy  form  of  the 
pores,  offering  a  different  figure  in  whatever 


4-8  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

direction  it  was  viewed.     31,668  tons  of  maho- 
gany were  imported  into  this  country  in  1848. 

But  we  must  leave  these  gigantic  denizens  of 
the  forest,  and  survey  some  of  the  other  aspects 
of  the  vegetation  of  this  zone.  As  in  the  woods 
of  our  own  country  the  bark  of  the  trees  is 
covered  with  mosses  and  lichens,  so  the  trees  of 
these  tropical  forests  exhibit  a  profusion  of  the 
most  luxuriant  and  elegant  forms ;  splendid 
parasites  of  the  orchis  tribe  grow  in  the  clefts 
and  crevices  of  the  bark,  with  ilowers  of  the 
most  brilliant  hues,  and  the  greatest  variety 
of  singular  forms.  The  most  elegant  ferns, 
(Polypodium,  Hymenophyllum,  and  Tricho- 
maneSj)  climb  up  the  trunks  like  ivy,  or  they 
grow  in  tufts,  which  fasten  on  the  branches, 
and  contrast  in  a  peculiar  manner  with 
the  foliage.  In  the  forests  of  the  Philippine 
Islands,  a  large  handsome  polypodium  often 
entirely  covers  a  large  part  of  the  branch  on 
which  it  grows  with  its  thick,  bright  brown, 
scaly  roots,  and  with  its  fronds,  two  or  three 
feet  long,  of  a  bright  yellow  colour,  contrasts 
most  strikingly  with  the  brown  roots,  and  the 
dark  green  foliage  around.  If  any  little  spot 
of  the  bark  is  left  uncovered  by  these  parasites, 
it  is  fastened  on  by  lichens,  mosses,  and  junger- 
nannise  ;  and  some  of  the  latter,  of  which  it 
requires  the  microscope  to  reveal  the  exquisite 
beauty,  grow  upon  the  leaves  of  the  other 
parasites — parasite  upon  parasite. 

But  not  only  are  the  forest  trees  covered 
with  these  splendid  orchises,  but  a  whole  host 


THE  EQUINOCTIAL  ZONE.  49 

of  climbing  plants,  taking  root  in  the  ground,  at 
first  twine  up  the  trunks  and  branches,  and 
afterwards,  forsaking  their  parent  soil,  continue 
to  grow  up  as  parasites.  The  stems  of  some  of 
these  climbers  have  a  singular  inclination  to 
throw  off  their  bark  whenever  they  are  irri- 
tated by  contact,  and  spread  themselves  upon 
the  substance  of  the  foreign  body  ;  thus,  the 
branches  of  the  parasite  by  degrees  coalesce, 
and  the  strength  of  the  original  root  being 
weakened,  the  stem  sends  down  air  roots,  and 
thus  continually  gains  fresh  strength  and  space. 
On  the  banks  of  the  Rio  Guama,  Martins  saw 
whole  rows  of  a  species  of  palm,  so  overgrown 
by  one  of  these  climbers,  that  the  parasite  had 
formed  around  the  trunk  (which  was  thirty 
feet  high)  a  cylindrical  tube,  which  bore  leaves 
and  flowers  on  short  branches,  and  from  the  top 
of  which  rose  the  noble  crown  of  the  palm.  In 
the  forests  of  South  America,  some  of  these 
climbers  form  living  ropes,  or  rattan  cables, 
which  produce  neither  leaves  nor  flowers  for  a 
length  of  thirty  or  forty  feet ;  and  in  the  Asiatic 
forests  similar  ropes  are  formed  by  various 
species  of  passion-flower  and  rattan  canes, 
(Calamus,)  and  these  bind  the  trees  together 
with  such  power,  that  the  strongest  hurricane 
cannot  tear  them  asunder.  So  luxuriant  and 
profuse  is  the  vegetation  of  these  regions,  that 
even  from  the  roots  of  the  trees  spring  up 
a  variety  of  plants,  often  of  gigantic  size  and  of 
singular  form. 

The  Rafflesice,  etc.,  of  the  Indian  Archipelago, 
5 


50        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

are  in  appearance  like  large  flowering  mush- 
rooms. Eafflesia  Arnoldi,  the  most  extraordi- 
nary species,  has  blossoms  nine  feet  in  circum- 
ference. The  blossom  is  nearly  all  the  plant, 
there  being  no  leaves,  and  scarcely  any  stems  or 
roots.  Its  buds  are  the  size  of  an  ordinary 
cabbage,  and  the  flower,  which  is  of  a  brick- 
red  colour,  smells  of  carrion.  One,  which  was 
weighed  and  measured,  was  found  to  be  ten  and 
a  half  feet  in  circumference,  fifteen  pounds  in 
weight,  and  the  cup  in  its  centre  would  contain 
a  gallon  and  a  half  of  liquid.  The  tropical 
parts  of  America  and  the  South  Sea  Islands 
abound  with  various  species  of  a  different  root- 
parasite,  (Balanopliora^  of  the  most  varied  forms, 
and  the  richest  colours.  They  greatly  resemble 
fungi,  with  short,  fleshy,  branched  stems,  and 
the  flower-stalks  covered  with  tiled  scales,  and 
the  flowers  collected  into  dense  heads. 

In  proportion  to  the  rich  beauty  which  a 
tropical  forest  displays,  crowded  with  the  vari- 
ous plants  we  have  indicated,  and  with  hun- 
dreds of  similar  species,  is  its  fearful  grandeur 
when  agitated  by  a  storm.  "  To  be  in  such 
a  forest  during  a  fiolent  hurricane  is  de- 
scribed as  more  fearful  than  to  struggle  with 
the  raging  waves  in  the  open  sea,  and  even 
far  less  violent  storms  produce  sublime  spec- 
tacles. When  the  boisterous  wind  catches 
hold  of  the  tops  of  the  gigantic  trees  of  these 
natural  forests,  and  shakes  the  branches  and 
trunks  against  each  other,  the  air  is  filled  with 
a  fearful  rushing,  thundering,  rattling,  and 


THE  EQUINOCTIAL  ZONE.  51 

crashing  ;  even  the  strong  lianas  are  torn 
asunder,  and  the  broken  branches  and  stems 
fall  to  the  ground.  Great  quantities  of  the 
parasites  are  thrown  down  from  their  lofty 
situations,  and  the  trees  are  stripped  of  their 
fruit,  which,  generally  cased  in  a  hard  shell, 
falls  to  the  ground  with  a  loud  crash.  The 
rain,  at  first  warded  off  by  the  thick  canopy  of 
foliage,  now  falls  in  so  much  the  greater  masses, 
and  adds  to  the  horrors  of  the  moment ;  almost 
all  the  inhabitants  of  the  forest  betray  their 
fear  by  mournful  howling  and  crying ;  the  apes, 
the  large  bats,  and  the  whole  host  of  birds,  call 
loudly  all  together ;  and  the  croaking  of  the  tree- 
frogs,  and  others  of  this  family,  sometimes  like 
the  sound  of  a  drum,  discloses  the  great  misery 
of  the  moment.  The  insects  only,  which  long 
before  announced  the  coming  uproar,  are  now 
silent,  and  keep  close  on  the  under  surface  of 
the  leaves  till  all  is  over,  and  the  sun  again 
shines  brightly  out." 

These  vast  forests  abound  in  tropical  America ; 
11  the  upper  Oronoko  flows  for  some  hundreds 
of  miles,  chiefly  through  forests,  and  the  banks 
of  the  Amazon  are  crowded  with  dense  woods. 
In  these  the  trees  are  colossal,  and  the  vegeta- 
tion so  matted  together  by  underwood,  parasites, 
and  climbers,  that  the  sun's  rays  can  scarce 
penetrate  the  dense  foliage  ;  and  so  profusely 
are  plants  scattered  here,  that  these  forests  vary 
very  much  in  different  places,  though  the  climate 
and  temperature  are  the  same.  Venezuela, 
Brazil,  Guiana,  Rio  Negro,  and  Para,  have 


52        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

each  a  flora  peculiarly  their  own  ;  nay,  every 
river,  and  sometimes  each  tributary  stream,  has 
a  different  vegetation.  No  language  can  de- 
scribe the  glory  of  the  forests  of  the  Amazon 
and  Brazil,  the  endless  variety  of  forms,  the 
contrasts  of  colour  and  size  ;  there  even  the 
largest  trees  bear  brilliant  blossoms  :  scarlet, 
purple,  blue,  rose-colour,  and  golden  yellow, 
are  blended  with  every  possible  shade  of  green 
An  impenetrable  and  everlasting  vegetation 
covers  the  ground  ;  decay  and  death  are  con- 
cealed by  the  luxuriance,  of  life  ;  the  trees  are 
loaded  with  parasites  when  alive  ;  they  become 
masses  of  living  plants  when  they  die." 

Many  parts  of  the  coasts  of  Venezuela  and 
Guiana  are  covered  by  woods  of  mangroves, 
hvicennias,  and  the  manchineel,  with  the  un- 
healthy exhalations  so  peculiar  to  the  places 
these  trees  select  in  such  climates.  The  cocoa, 
or  chocolate  tree,  (Tlieobroma  cacao,)  grows  wild 
in  Guiana,  Mexico,  and  the  east  of  the  Caraccas ; 
it  is  now  cultivated  extensively,  and  as  far 
south  as  Chili,  and  also  in  the  Canary  arid 
Phillippine  Islands.  Whole  forests  of  it  occur 
in  Demerara.  It  bears  a  fruit  something  like  a 
short  cucumber,  full  of  seeds,  which  are  the 
chocolate  nuts.  It  is  now  very  extensively 
used,  and  more  than  ever.  6,444,204  pounds 
were  imported  into  this  country  in  1848,  of 
which  2,935,479  pounds  were  entered  for  home 
consumption,  and  1,604,813  pounds  exported  to 
other  places.  But  the  quantity  consumed  in 
England  is  trifling  compared  with  that  required 


THE  EQUINOCTIAL  ZONE.  55 

by  other  countries.  A  much  larger  quantity  is 
consumed  in  France  ;  in  Spain  it  is  commonly 
drunk,  in  the  shape  of  chocolate,  for  breakfast ; 
in  Mexico  it  is  considered  an  article  of  prime 
necessity. 

In  Guiana  grows  the  Strychnos  toxicaria,  a 
creeping  plant,  from  the  fruit  and  bark  of 
which  the  natives  prepare  the  woorali  poison, 
one  of  the  most  deadly  known.  Arrows  dipped 
in  the  prepared  juice  are  blown  through  tubes, 
formed  from  the  internodes  of  a  reed,  (Arundi- 
naria  Schomburgkii,)  and  with  a  precision  that 
rarely  fails  of  its  victim.  Schomburgk  thus 
speaks  of  its  effects :  "  We  were  travelling 
over  the  Savannahs,  girt  by  the  Paracaima 
Mountains  ;  a  deer  was  discovered  browsing  in 
the  high  grass  before  us.  One  of  the  Indians 
took  a  poisoned  spike  from  his  sarima,  and 
fixed  it  to  his  arrow.  Cautiously  he  stole  upon 
the  unsuspecting  deer,  and  shot  the  arrow  into 
its  neck  ;  it  made  a  jump  in  the  air,  fled  with 
the  speed  of  the  wind  over  the  Savannahs,  but 
had  scarcely  run  forty  yards  when  it  fell  pant- 
ing to  the  ground,  and  expired.  I  have  seen 
the  tapir  swimming  across  the  Eupumuni,  so 
slightly  wounded  that  the  spike  had  scarce 
penetrated  its  thick  skin  ;  nevertheless,  it  took 
effect,  and  the  animal  expired."  The  blow- 
pipes above  alluded  to  are  the  produce  of  a 
singular  reed,  allied  to  the  bamboos,  and  hollow 
inside  ;  they  are  called  curata  by  the  natives. 
The  stem  is  about  one  and  a  half  inches  in 
diameter,  or  five  inches  in  circumference>  and 


54        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

rises  from  the  root-stock  to  a  height  (often)  of  six- 
teen feet  without  a  joint,  and  of  equal  thickness 
throughout.  The  first  joint  then  occurs,  and  the 
first  branchlets  are  formed.  A  joint  then  appears 
at  every  fifteen  or  eighteen  inches,  to  a  further 
height  of  forty  to  fifty  feet.  The  whole  stem  is 
from  fifty  to  sixty  feet  high,  but  the  weight  of 
the  numerous  branchlets  forces  the  slender  stem 
to  droop,  and  the  upper  part  describes  an  arch, 
which  adds  greatly  to  its  graceful  appearance. 

Two  kinds  of  mandioc,  or  cassava,  grow 
in  Spanish  America  and  Brazil,  which  bear 
tuberous  roots,  the  farina  of  which  is  used 
as  food  by  the  natives  ;  the  root  of  one  is  harm- 
less, but  the  other  contains  a  poisonous  milky 
juice,  the  effects  of  which  are  removed  by 
cultivation  or  pressure.  Its  limit  of  growth 
extends  to  about  30°  on  each  side  of  the 
equator,  and  an  acre  of  it  is  said  to  yield  as 
much  nutriment  as  six  acres  of  wheat.  The 
humiria  (a  native  of  South  America)  has  so 
powerful  a  perfume,  that  it  has  been  inhaled  at 
the  distance  of  three  miles  out  at  sea. 

We  have  already  mentioned  palms  as  among 
the  characteristic  plants  of  this  zone.  There 
are  no  less  than  four  hundred  known  species  of 
this  remarkable  and  beautiful  tribe,  eighty-one 
of  which  inhabit  tropical  Brazil  alone  ;  some 
with  hardly  any  stem,  others  towering  to  the 
height  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet.  So 
narrow  here  are  their  geographical  limits,  that 
Humboldt  and  Bonpland  discovered  a  new 
species  in  every  fifty  miles  of  travelling.  The 


THE  EQUINOCTIAL  ZONE.  55 

palm  has  ever  been  the  queen  of  the  woods,  not 
only  on  account  of  the  beauty  of  its  form,  but 
because  of  its  extraordinary  usefulness.  Though 
the  species  of  palm  are  so  numerous,  there  arc 
few,  perhaps  none,  which  are  not  in  some  way 
useful  to  man.  No  other  tribe  produces  such 
enormous  quantities  of  fruit.  Alfonsia  amygda- 
lina,  a  South  American  species,  has  207,000 
flowers  in  a  single  flower-sheath,  or  600,000 
upon  an  individual,  though  all  do  not  ripen. 
The  seje  palm  of  the  Oronoko  bears  8,000 
fruits  on  every  branch.  The  whole  tribe  is  one 
of  the  most  interesting  in  the  vegetable  king- 
dom ;  their  towering  stems,  their  majestic 
foliage,  their  immense  value  as  affording  food, 
raiment,  and  a  variety  of  products  of  economical 
and  commercial  importance,  the  character  of 
grandeur  they  impress  upon  the  landscape,  and 
the  great  variety  of  their  appearance  and  habits 
— all  combine  to  attract  attention  to  them.  We 
shall  glance  briefly  at  a  few  of  those  which 
inhabit  this  zone. 

The  cocoa  palm  is,  perhaps,  the  most  im- 
portant of  all.  Its  native  country  is  the  old 
world  and  the  South  Sea  Islands  ;  it  has,  pro- 
bably, migrated  to  America,  and  grows  there 
in  great  numbers  on  the  West  India  Islands 
and  Brazil.  In  the  Southern  Ocean  it  often 
points  out  to  the  mariner  the  rocks  of  coral  on 
which  it  grows,  and  which  are  so  dangerous  to 
navigators.  On  the  damp  coasts  of  India  and 
the  rich  Island  of  Ceylon,  the  cocoa  palms  grow 
in  millions,  and  not  only  minister  to  the  wants 


56        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

of  the  inhabitants,  but  form  a  profitable  article 
of  trade.  In  the  south  of  Ceylon  there  is  a 
forest  of  the  cocoa  palms,  which  stretches  along 
the  sea-shore  for  twenty-six  miles,  is  several 
leagues  in  breadth,  and  is  estimated  to  contain 
eleven  millions  of  full-grown  trees.  When  the 
Dutch  were  masters  of  Ceylon,  six  thousand 
casks  of  arrack,  three  millions  of  pounds  of  coir 
rope,  (a  cordage  made  from  cocoa  fibres,)  and 
an  immense  quantity  of  oil,  were  annually  ob- 
tained from  this  forest.  Like  all  other  fruit- 
trees,  it  is  improved  by  cultivation.  It  grows 
rapidly,  and  at  six  years  old  often  bears  thirty 
nuts.  When  full  grown  it  will  produce  two 
hundred  to  three  hundred  nuts,  and  will  live  to 
the  age  of  one  hundred  years.  The  fresh  ripe 
nut  is  full  of  a  fluid  as  clear  as  water,  and  of  a 
sweetish  taste,  which  is  an  extremely  cooling 
and  agreeable  drink,  often  enthusiastically 
praised  by  travellers.  The  kernel,  boiled  in 
sugar,  forms  a  delicious  sweetmeat,  and  is 
universally  eaten  in  the  Spanish  colonies  in 
tropical  countries.  The  cocoa  nut  oil  is  ob- 
tained by  long  boiling  the  kernel  in  water,  and 
then  pressing  it ;  it  is  largely  used  in  our 
manufactories.  It  is  surprising  that  it  is  not 
more  generally  used  as  a  domestic  article,  as, 
instead  of  the  very  unpleasant  smell  of  fish  oil, 
it  has  rather  an  agreeable  odour,  and  is  readily 
consumed  in  open  glass  vessels,  with  floating  or 
standing  wicks,  whatever  the  temperature  of 
the  air  may  be.  The  nut-shells  are  used  by 
the  natives  for  driuking-cups,  and  being  very 


THE  EQUINOCTIAL  ZONE.  57 

hard,  and  susceptible  of  a  high  polish,  are  also 
formed  into  numerous  ornamental  articles.  The 
fibrous  husk  is  made  into  cordage,. ropes,  (coir 
rope,)  mats,  brushes,  and  similar  articles.  The 
leaves  are  used  for  thatching  ;  and  the  stems, 
though  they  cannot  be  cut  into  planks,  are  used 
entire,  as  pillars  in  the  support  of  large  build- 
ings. From  the  sap  an  excellent  wine  is 
produced,  which,  however,  will  keep  but  a 
very  short  time  ere  it  becomes  converted  into 
vinegar. 

Another  valuable  species  is  the  sago  palm,  or 
rather  number  of  species,  for  several  are  known 
which  yield  this  important  article  of  commerce. 
The  principal  ones  are,  Sagus  Iceuis,  S.  genuina, 
S.  Rumphii,  Cycas  circinalis,  Cycas  revoluta, 
Caryota  urens,  Phoenix  farim/era,  and  Saguerus 
saccharifer.  They  grow  extensively  in  the  East 
Indies,  Siam,  China,  Japan,  Java,  Sumatra, 
Borneo,  Malacca,  etc.  Sago  is  prepared  from  the 
pith  of  the  trunk,  which  must  be  cut  down  for 
the  purpose.  The  pith  is  only  fit  for  making 
sago  immediately  before  the  flowering  of  the 
tree  ;  at  a  later  stage,  either  none  is  obtained,  or 
only  a  bad  woody  kind.  The  pith  being  ex- 
tracted, is  rubbed  down  in  water  into  small 
particles,  which  will  pass  through  a  sieve.  A 
single  trunk  of  Sagus  Rumpliii,  fifteen  years  old, 
will  yield  600  pounds  of  sago  ;  and  an  acre  of 
land,  planted  with  these  palms,  yields  an  annual 
produce  of  8,000  pounds. 

Saguerus  saccharifer,  one  of  the  sago  palms,  is 
a  very  important  species.  It  is  very  common  in 


58       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

the  Asiatic  Archipelago,  the  Moluccas,  and  the 
Philippine  Islands.  Its  juice  is  obtained  in  large 
quantities,  by  wounding  the  flowering  spathe  :  it 
yields  by  evaporation  a  kind  of  sugar,  and  by 
fermentation  an  intoxicating  drink.  When  the 
trees  are  exhausted  of  sap,  from  150  to  200 
pounds  of  good  sago  may  be  obtained  from  the 
trunk.  The  timber  is  extremely  hard,  and 
useful  for  building  purposes  ;  and  from  four  to 
seven  pounds  of  strong  horse-hair  like  fibres, 
may  be  annually  obtained  from  the  leaf-stalks  : 
these  are  extensively  used  in  making  cordage, 
ropes,  and  cables.  Its  fruit  is  very  acid,  ex- 
citing severe  inflammation  in  the  mouth  of  those 
who  chew  it ;  it  was  the  basis  of  the  "  infernal 
water"  which  the  Moluccas  used  in  their  Avars 
to  pour  over  their  enemies.  Another  palm 
(Borassus  fldbdliformis)  grows  in  extensive 
groves  in  the  valley  of  the  Irrawaddy  ;  it  is  a 
magnificent  tree,  often  one  hundred  feet  high, 
remarkable  for  its  gigantic  leaves,  one  of  which 
would  shelter  twelve  men. 

The  celebrated  betel  nut  is  the  fruit  of  a 
palm,  (Areca  catechu,}  and  is  chewed  by  the 
Indians  with  the  leaf  of  a  species  of  pepper, 
which  together  produce  powerful  narcotic  and 
intoxicating  effects.  We  are  told  that  the 
Asiatic  nations  would  rather  forego  meat  and 
drink  than  their  favourite  betel  nuts,  whole 
ship-loads  of  which  are  annually  exported  from 
Sumatra,  Malacca,  Siam,  and  Cochin  China. 
Vegetable  ivory  and  palm  oil  are  the  products 
of  palms.  The  former  is  the  fruit  of  Phytelephas 


THE  EQUINOCTIAL  ZONE.  59 

macrocarpa,  called  by  the  natives  "Negrohead." 
It  is  found  in  the  groves  of  Peru,  in  the  hotter 
part  of  the  Andes.  The  latter  (palm  oil)  is 
obtained  by  expression  from  the  fruit  of  Elais 
guineensis,  a  native  of  the  western  coast  of  Africa. 
Enormous  quantities  of  this  oil  are  employed 
in  Europe  as  a  sort  of  grease,  and  in  the  manu- 
facture of  soap  and  candles.  It  is  of  a  deep 
orange  colour,  but  is  often  bleached  for  use  in 
the  arts.  510,129  cwts.  were  imported  into 
this  country  in  1848. 

A  very  remarkable  feature  in  this  zone  is 
that  which  we  have  already  alluded  to  under 
the  name  of  arborescent  grasses,  and  of  which 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  is  the  bamboo, 
(Bambusa,)  which  often  forms  woods  as  ex- 
tensive as  the  pine  and  fir  forests  of  the  northern 
regions.  These  gigantic  grasses  have  a  stem 
often  fifty  or  sixty,  or  even  a  hundred  feet  high, 
sending  out  lateral  branches.  Their  form  is 
remarkably  elegant ;  their  slender  trunks,  with 
bending  branches,  and  long  grassy  leaves,  are 
very  singular  ;  they  somewhat  remind  the  Euro- 
pean traveller  of  the  willows  of  his  native  coun- 
try. They  are  planted  in  tropical  countries  to 
adorn  the  landscape,  as  the  willow  is  with  us  ; 
and  a  beautiful  lawn,  surrounded  by  bamboos, 
as  may  be  seen  in  India,  is  a  most  charming 
object.  To  the  Indian  savage,  bamboos  afford 
almost  all  he  wants,  excepting  food.  "  With  their 
lightest  shoots  he  makes  his  arrows,  the  fibres  of 
the  wood  form  bow-strings,  and  from  the  larger 
stems  he  fabricates  a  bow ;  a  long  and  slender 


60        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

shoot  affords  him  a  lance-shaft,  and  he  finds  its 
hardened  point  a  natural  head  for  the  weapon. 
With  the  hardened  stems  he  builds  the  walls 
and  roof  of  his  hut,  its  leaves  afford  him  an 
impenetrable  thatch,  split  into  narrow  slips  it 
gives  him  the  material  for  weaving  his  nets, 
and  other  articles  of  domestic  convenience,  and 
its  fibre  furnishes  him  with  twine.  Would  he 
commit  himself  to  the  waves,  the  stems  form 
the  hull  of  his  boat,  which,  by  a  few  skins 
stretched  over  it,  is  rendered  water-tight ;  the}' 
also  give  him  masts,  and  these  slips  of  wood 
become  cordage,  and  are  woven  into  sails." 

In  Japan,  China,  and  India,  the  stems  of  the 
bamboo  are  applied  to  a  great  variety  of  useful 
purposes.  Water  pipes  are  made  of  them ; 
they  are  used  in  constructing  fences,  houses, 
and  boats,  and  a  variety  of  articles  of  furniture. 
Some  of  the  gigantic  reeds  of  Brazil,  called 
Taquarussa,  are  living  fountains  ;  they  grow 
from  thirty  to  forty  feet  high,  and  eighteen 
inches  in  circumference,  forming  thorny  im- 
penetrable thickets  ;  to  hunters  and  travellers 
they  are  exceedingly  grateful,  for,  on  cutting 
off  such  a  reed  just  below  the  joint,  the  stem 
of  the  younger  shoots  is  found  to  be  full  of  a 
cool  liquid,  which  quenches  the  most  burning 
thirst. 

Another  gigantic  grass,  which  has  been  more 
closely  identified  with  the  interests  of  the 
human  race  than  any  other  of  the  tribe,  is  the 
sugar-cane.  It  is  a  native  of  the  old  world, 
which  was  cultivated  in  China  and  the  South 


THE  EQUINOCTIAL  ZONE.  61 

Sea  Islands  before  the  historical  era,  and 
Columbus  found  it  wild  in  many  parts  of 
America.  The  sugar-cane  succeeds  best  with 
a  mean  temperature  of  75°  or  77°.  but  can  be 
cultivated  in  colder  parts,  where  it  amounts  to 
66°  or  68°.  The  limit  of  sugar  culture 
stretches  therefore  from  the  equator  to  some 
distance  beyond  the  tropics  ;  it  is  even  found 
cultivated  in  Sicily  and  Spain.  On  the  moun- 
tains of  Mexico  and  Columbia,  it  is  grown  even 
to  the  height  of  6,000  feet ;  and  sugar  plan- 
tations were  formed  by  Cortes  on  the  table-land  • 
of  the  town  of  Mexico,  at  6,600  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  sea. 

On  the  Himalayan  mountains,  also,  sugar  and 
cotton  are  grown  on  the  table-lands  at  the 
height  of  4,500  feet.  Sugar  is  chiefly  culti- 
vated as  an  article  of  commerce  in  the  West 
Indies,  Brazil,  and  India.  The  sugar-cane  is 
raised  from  shoots  two  or  three  feet  in  length, 
which  are  prepared  from  the  shaft  of  the  full- 
grown  plant.  In  fourteen  days,  the  shoots  spring 
from  the  joints,  and  in  the  space  of  a  year 
the  shaft,  or  main  stem,  is  so  far  grown  that 
it  may  be  cut  down.  On  land  freshly  taken  in 
which  is  well  planted,  and  not  exposed  to  long 
inundations,  the  sugar-cane  yields  from  twenty 
to  thirty  annual  crops,  since  new  shoots  spring 
every  year  from  the  perennial  root.  Humboldfc 
saw  a  sugar  plantation  in  Cuba  which  had 
been  in  existence  forty-five  years.  The  native 
bugar-eane  of  Tahiti  has  been  planted  in  the 
West  Indies,  and  is  found  to  be  far  richer  than 
6 


C2        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

the  old  variety  ;  it  yields  a  quarter  more  juice, 
and  a  larger  and  more  solid  mass  of  wood  for 
fuel.  It  seems,  however,  that  the  East  Indian 
sugar-cane  is  still  more  productive  than  that 
from  Tahiti ;  for,  in  Bengal,  the  produce  is 
twice  as  great  as  in  Havannah,  while  the  wages 
of  the  Indian  are  only  one-third  the  cost  of 
maintaining  a  slave. 

The  process  for  making  raw  sugar  is  briefly 
as  follows  • — The  leaves  having  been  stripped 
off  by  machinery,  the  stems  are  passed  between 
'powerful  rollers,  which  crush  them  so  as  to 
express  the  juice,  which,  being  collected  as  it 
flows,  is  then  evaporated  by  successive  boilings, 
the  crushed  canes  being  used  as  fuel ;  it  is  then 
clarified,  and  finally  crystallized.  From  this 
the  uncrystallizable  sugar,  called  molasses,  or 
treacle,  is  then  drained,  and  the  remainder, 
namely,  raw  sugar,  being  packed  in  hogsheads,  is 
ready  for  exportation.  Very  large  quantities  of 
spirits  (rum)  are  also  distilled  from  the  crushed 
canes,  and  from  the  molasses.  The  quantity 
of  raw  sugar  imported  into  this  country,  in. 
1848,  was  6,871,468  cwts. ;  but  a  considerable 
quantity,  after  having  been  refined  and  made 
into  lump  sugar,  is  exported.  The  quantity 
of  molasses,  or  treacle,  imported  during  the 
same  period,  was  517,721  cwts.  ;  and  of  rum, 
6,859,340  gallons. 

A  striking  feature  among  the  plants  of  this 
zone  is  the  ginger  tribe,  ScitamineoBj  the  rich 
and  glowing  colours  of  their  flowers  and  floral 
leaves  rendering  them  objects  of  great  beauty. 


THE  (xLOGKAPHl   OF  PLANTS. 

Ginger  and  turmeric  are  the  chief  economical 
products  of  the  tribe  ;  the  latter  is  used  in 
dyeing,  affording  a  beautiful  yellow.  It  is  the 
root-stock,  or  rhizome,  of  Curcuma  longa,  a 
native  of  eastern  Asia.  Ginger  is  the  same 
part  of  the  plant  of  Zingiber  officinal*,  a  native 
of  the  south-east  of  Asia  and  the  adjoining 
islands,  but  early  transplanted  to  America  and 
the  West  Indies,  where  it  has  been  cultivated 
with  great  success.  Most  of  what  is  now  used 
is  imported  from  Jamaica,  Bengal,  the  Malabar 
coast,  and  Africa ;  the  first  is,  however,  the 
best.  Galangale,  zedoary,  and  cardamoms,  are 
also  the  produce  of  plants  of  this  order. 

In  the  Archipelago  of  Asia,  which  lies 
almost  entirely  in  this  zone,  jungle  and  pesti- 
lential woods  entirely  cover  the  smaller  islands, 
and  the  plains  of  the  larger  ;  the  coasts  are 
lined  by  forests  of  mangroves,  bamboos,  and 
trees  overgrown  by  myriads  of  orchideaceous 
parasites  ;  here,  too,  abounds  the  tree  yielding 
gutta  percha,  (Isonandra  gutta,)  which  has 
recently  become  an  important  article  in  com- 
mera-5,  being  capable  of  application  to  so 
many  purposes  of  utility  and  elegance.  The 
forest  trees  of  these  islands  are  almost  un- 
known ;  the  greater  part  are  quite*  peculiar  to 
them.  The  naturalist,  Rumphius,  had  a  cabinet 
inlaid  with  four  hundred  kinds  of  wood,  the 
produce  of  Amboyna  and  the  Molucca  Islands. 
Sumatra,  Java,  and  tjie  adjacent  islands,  pro- 
duce a  tree,  (Dryobalanops  camphora^)  in  whose 
stems  solid  lumps  of  a  remarkable  kind  of 


64  THE  EQUINOCTIAL  ZONE. 

camphor  are  found,  which  is  greatly  valued  in 
China,  and  fetches  a  very  high  price.  The 
camphor  of  commerce  is  principally  obtained 
from  Camphora  officinarum,  a  tree  of  the  laurel 
tribe,  a  native  of  China,  Japan,  and  Cochin 
China.  The  camphor  is  obtained  from  the 
wood,  branches,  and  leaves,  which  are  boiled  in 
water,  and  the  camphor  sublimes.  As  im- 
ported, it  is  in  small  grains,  dirty  and  greyish 
in  colour  ;  it  is  purified  in  this  country  by 
sublimation.  In  some  species  of  cinnamon, 
camphor  is  contained  in  such  abundance, 
especially  in  the  roots,  that  they  are  unfit  for 
use  as  a  spice. 

Most  of  the  spices  are  limited  in  their  distri- 
bution. Thus  the  Myristica  moscliata,  which 
produces  nutmegs  and  mace,  is  confined  to  the 
Banda  Islands,  but  is  said  to  have  been  lately 
discovered  in  New  Guinea.  The  Dutch,  who 
were  masters  of  these  islands  at  an  early 
period,  endeavoured  to  secure  the  exclusive 
trade  and  growth  of  these  valuable  spices,  and 
so  to  regulate  the  quantity  produced  as  to  keep 
up  high  prices.  Sometimes  they  cut  down 
trees,  and  at  other  times  destroyed  immense 
quantities  of  the  spice,  if  the  crop  was  too 
plentiful.  •  They  more  than  once,  however, 
suffered  dearly  for  their  avarice,  the  nutmeg 
trees  of  Banda  having  been  nearly  destroyed 
by  hurricanes  and  earthquakes,  which  spaced 
other  islands.  The  quantities  imported  into 
this  country,  in  1848,  were,  of  mace,  47,572 
pounds,  and  of  nutmegs,  336,420  pounds. 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

The  clove  tree,  (Caryopliyllus  aromatievs,)  a 
plant  of  the  myrtle  tribe,  inhabits  the  Amboyna 
and  Molucca  groups,  but  has  been  introduced 
into  many  parts  of  Asia,  many  of  the  West 
India  Islands,  Cayenne,  Mauritius,  and  Bour- 
bon. The  Dutch,  who  possessed  the  Spice 
Islands,  pursued  the  same  absurd  and  covetous 
practice  with  the  clove  trees,  which  we  have 
already  noticed  with  regard  to  the  nutmegs  ; 
and  the  practice,  more  than  once,  occasioned  an 
insurrection  among  the  natives,  who  regard  the 
clove  trees  with  great  attachment,  and  are  in 
the  habit  of  planting  one  at  the  birth  of  each 
child.  Every  part  of  the  clove  tree  is  covered 
with  minute  dots,  or  glands,  which  secrete  arid 
contain  an  aromatic  oil  ;  and  so  abundant  is  it 
in  the  flower-buds,  (which  when  dried  are  the 
cloves  of  commerce,)  that  it  may  be  expressed 
from  them.  It  is  one  of  the  few  essential  oils 
that  are  heavier  than  water.  The  annual  pro- 
duce is  from  two  to  two  and  a-half  pounds  from 
each  tree  ;  but  a  fine  tree  has  been  known  to 
yield  125  pounds;  and  as  5,000  cloves  weigh 
one  pound,  there  must  have  been,  at  least, 
625,000  flowers  on  this  singletree.  The  quan- 
tity imported  in  1848  was  105,295  pounds. 

Cinnamon  and  pepper  also  grow  in  these 
same  islands.  The  former  is  the  bark  of 
Cinnamomum  zeylanicum,  and  the  best  is  the 
produce  of  the  young  branches,  from  one  to 
two  inches  in  diameter.  The  cinnamon  im- 
ported into  England  is  chiefly  brought  from 
Ceylon,  and  is  grown  principally  in  the  neigh- 


«h  THE  EQUINOCTIAL  ZONE. 

bourhood  of  Columbo.  The  quantity  imported 
in  1848  was  357,463  pounds.  An  inferior 
kind  of  cinnamon,  called  cassia,  or  Cassia  lignea, 
is  the  bark  of  Cinnamomum  aromaticum,  and  is 
imported  principally  from  Singapore.  The 
principal  city  of  the  province  Kwangse,  in 
China,  is  named  Kweihin,  or  Cassia  Forest, 
from  the  forests  of  cassia  around  it.  510,247 
pounds  were  imported  in  1848.  So  powerful 
is  the  perfume  of  the  cinnamon  plants,  that  it 
is  wafted  far  out  to  sea.  This  is  alluded  to 
by  bishop  Heber,  in  his  beautiful  hymn : 

"  What  though  the  spicy  breezes 

Blow  soft  o'er  Ceylon's  isle, 
Where  every  prospect  pleases, 

And  only  man  is  vile ; 
In  vain  with  lavish  kindness 

The  gifts  of  God  are  strewn, 
The  heathen  in  his  blindness 

Bows  down  to  wood  and  stone." 

Cinnamon  was  among  the  spices  known  to  the 
Jews,  and  was  doubtless  imported  into  Pales- 
tine by  the  Arabians,  who  were  the  chief 
merchants  to  India  in  ancient  times,  and  were 
the  medium  through  which  the  spices,  and 
other  productions  of  India,  were  carried  into 
western  Asia,  Egypt,  Greece,  and  Rome.  Cin- 
namon was  in  use  in  very  earjy  times.  It  was 
among  the  spices  which  were  appointed  for 
perfuming  "  the  holy  anointing  oil,"  with 
which  the  tabernacle,  the  sacred  vessels,  and 
the  priests  were  to  be  anointed,  (Exod.  xxx. 
23 — 31.)  It  is  placed  among  other  fragrant 
plants  in  Solomon's  Song  iv.  14.  Cassia  is 
also  mentioned  in  the  former  passage,  and 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

again  in  Ezek.  xxvii.  19,  as  one  of  the  arti- 
cles which  were  prominent  in  the  markets  of 
Tyre. 

Pepper  is  another  important  production  of 
the  Spice  Islands  ;  though  it  has  been  intro- 
duced there,  and  is  a  native  of  the  East  Indies 
and  Malabar.  It  can  be  cultivated  in  tropical 
countries  only,  and  even  there  its  limits  are 
very  narrow,  extending  but  to  a  few  degrees 
on  either  side  of  the  equator.  Its  cultivation 
is  thus  managed  : — Ground,  covered  by  wood,  is 
chosen,  and  cleared  by  felling,  burning,  etc., 
and  then  divided  into  beds,  each  six  feet 
square,  in  each  of  which  is  fixed  a  support,  on 
which  the  plant  may  climb.  This  is  either  a 
pole,  or  a  slender  living  tree  ;  the  latter  is  pre- 
ferred when  it  can  be  had.  The  pepper  is 
planted  by  slips,  two  plants  being  set  by  each 
pole  ;  in  three  years,  they  gain  the  height  of 
from  eight  to  twelve  feet,  and  begin  to  bear  fruit. 
About  this  time,  when  the  pepper  has  become 
ripe,  the  \vKole  plant  is  cut  down  to  the  length 
of  three  feet,*  carefully  separated  from  the  sup- 
port, arnl  laid  horizontally  in  a  circle  on  the 
ground,  so  that  the  ends  again  take  root.  The 
plant  now  shoots  out  afresh,  and  bears  every 
year  a  large  quantity  of  fruit ;  without  this 
treatment  it  would  chiefly  have  thrown  out 
leaves.  The  berries  are  at  first  green,  but, 
when  ripe,  are  a  beautiful  red.'  Whenever  u 
part  of  the  berries  are  ripe,  the  whole  are 
taken  off,  and  spread  on  mats  or  on  the  ground, 
where  they  become  dry,  01  a  black  colour  and 


68  THE  EQUINOCTIAL  ZONE. 

wrinkled  surface,  forming  black  pepper.  "White 
pepper  is  prepared  from  the  perfectly  ripe 
berries,  by  soaking  them  in  water  to  deprive 
them  of  their  skins,  which  are  carefully  sepa- 
rated, and  the  pepper  is  then  sun-dried.  The 
berries  require  four  or  five  months  to  ripen. 

Full-grown  pepper  plants  yield  two  crops  in 
the  year ;  and  the  produce  of  one  thousand 
plants  is  considered  to  be  equal  to  four  hundred 
or  four  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of  pepper. 
In  Java,  the  crop  is  so  great  sometimes,  that 
the  leaves  of  the  plant  cannot  be  seen  for  the 
immense  quantity  of  berries.  A  much  larger 
quantity  of  pepper  is  consumed  in  hot  countries 
than  in  Europe,  the  inhabitants  of  warm 
climates  being  very  fond  of  highly  seasoned 
dishes.  The  quantity  imported  into  England, 
in  1848,  was  8,125,158  pounds,  of  which 
3,189,313  pounds  were  retained  for  home 
consumption,  4,385,030  pounds  being  again 
shipped  for  the  continent,  etc.  The  produce 
of  the  pepper  countries  is  thus  stated  by  Mr. 
Crawford  : — 

Sumatra 23,000,000  pounds. 

Islands  in  the  Straits  of  Malacca  .  3,600,000 

Malay  peninsula 3,733,333 

Borneo        2,666,667 

Siam       .    ; 8,000,000 

Malabar 4,000,000 

Total  annual  produce 50,000,000  pounds. 

In  the  Asiatic  Archipelago,  also,  the  nettle 
tribe  assumes  its  most  pernicious  character. 
One  species  of  nettle,  (Urtica  stimulans,)  a 
native  of  Java,  has  so  virulent  a  sting,  tha*  it 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

occasions  not  only  pain,  but  illness,  which  lasts 
for  days.  Another  species,  (  Urtica  urentissima,) 
growing  in  the  island  of  Timor,  and  called  by 
the  natives  "  Devil's  leaf,"  is  so  poisonous,  that 
its  sting  produces  long  illness,  its  effects  last- 
ing for  a  whole  year,  and  sometimes  even 
death  is  the  result.  Leschenault  de  la  Tour 
thus  describes  the  effect  of  gathering  Urtica 
crenulata,  at  Calcutta :  "  One  of  the  leaves 
slightly  touched  the  first  three  fingers  of  my 
left  hand  ;  at  the  time  I  only  perceived  a  slight 
pricking,  to  which  I  paid  no  attention.  The 
pain  continued  to  increase  ;  in  an  hour  it  had 
become  intolerable  ;  it  seemed  as  if  some  one 
were  rubbing  my  fingers  with  a  hot  iron. 
Nevertheless  no  inflammatory  pustule,  or  swell- 
ing, was  to  be  seen.  The  pain  spread  rapidly 
along  the  arm,  as  far  as  the  arm-pit.  I  was 
then  seized  with  frequent  sneezing,  and  a  co- 
pious running  from  the  nose,  as  if  I  had  caught 
a  violent  cold.  About  noon  I  experienced  a 
painful  contraction  at  the  back  of  the  jaws, 
which  made  me  fear  an  attack  of  tetanus.  I 
then  went  to  bed,  hoping  that  repose  would 
alleviate  my  suffering,  but  it  did  not  abate  ; 
on  the  contrary,  it  continued  nearly  the  whole 
of  the  following  night,  but  I  lost  the  contrac- 
tion of  the  jaws  about  seven  in  the  evening. 
The  next  morning  the  pain  began  to  leave  me, 
and  I  fell  asleep.  I  continued  to  suffer  for  two 
days,  and  the  pain  returned  in  full  force  when 
1 1  put  my  hand  into  water.  I  did  not  finally 
lose  it  for  nine  days."  A  similar  circumstance 


70  THE  EQUINOCTIAL  ZONE. 

occurred,  with  precisely  the  same  symptoms, 
to  a  workman  in  the  Calcutta  Botanic  Garden. 
This  man  described  the  sensation,  when  water 
was  applied  to  the  stung  part,  to  be  as  if  boil- 
ing water  had  been  poured  over  him. 

The  celebrated  upas  also  inhabits  the  woods 
and  forests  of  this  portion  of  our  globe.  It  was 
formerly  supposed  that  no  one  could  approach 
it  without  the  most  imminent  danger  of  death, 
from  its  poisonous  exhalations.  This  is  now, 
however,  to  be  classed  among  popular  errors  ; 
still,  the  juice  is  a  most  virulent  poison,  one  of 
the  most  deadly  known  ;  and  it  is  even  possible 
that  at  certain  seasons,  arid  especially  during 
the  night,  its  exhalations  may  be  of  a  noxious 
character,  like  those  of  the  West  Indian  man  - 
chineel  tree,  which  is  known  to  be  highly 
injurious,  and  is  said  to  have  been  even  fatal 
to  those  who  venture  to  sleep  beneath  its  shade. 
The  poisonous  character  of  the  upas  is  said  to 
be  owing  to  the  presence  of  that  most  deadly 
substance,  strychnia.  Linen  made  from  its 
tough  fibres,  if  insufficiently  prepared,  is  so' 
acrid  as  to  excite  the  most  distressing  itching. 

It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  this  virulent  plant 
is  very  nearly  allied,  in  its  botanical  character, 
to  the  useful  and  delicious  bread  fruit.  Java 
also  contains  another  plant,  (Strychnos  tieute,) 
from  the  bark  of  the  root  of  which  a  frightful 
poison  is  prepared  by  the  natives,  who  call  it 
tjettek  and  upas  radja ;  it  is  exceedingly  viru- 
lent, and  probably  owes  its  deadly  nature  to 
strychnia.  All  the  species  of  strychnos  appear 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

lo  be  very  poisonous,  except  one,  8.  potatorum, 
Jie  fruit  of  which  is  called  the  "  clearing  nut," 
and  is  sold  in  every  market  in  India  to  clear 
muddy  water.  The  natives  never  drink  clear 
well  water  if  they  can  get  pond  or  river  water, 
which  is  always  more  or  less  impure,  according 
to  circumstances.  One  of  the  seeds  is  well 
rubbed  round  the  inside  of  the  vessel,  generally 
an  unglazed  earthen  one,  containing  the  water, 
which  is  then  left  to  settle ;  in  a  very  short 
time  the  impurities  fall  to  the  bottom,  leaving 
the  water  clear.  One  of  the  upas  genus 
(Antiaris)  is  used  for  making  sacks  in  India,  by 
the  following  singular  process  :  "  A  branch  is 
cut,  corresponding  to  the  length  and  diameter  of 
the  sack  wanted.  It  is  soaked  a  little,  and  then 
beaten  with  clubs  till  the  fibre  separates  from 
the  wood.  This  done,  the  sack  formed  of  the 
bark  is  turned  inside  out,  and  pulled  down  till 
the  wood  is  sawn  off,  with  the  exception  of  a 
small  piece  left  to  form  the  bottom  of  the  sack. 
These  sacks  are  in  general  use." 

"  No  country  is  richer  than  Java  in  club 
mosses  (Lycopodium)  and  orchideous  plants, 
which  overrun  the  trees  in  thousands  in  the 
deep,  dark,  mountain  forests,  choked  by  huge 
creeping  plants,  with  an  undergrowth  of  gigantic 
grasses,  through  which  not  a  ray  of  light  pene- 
trates. Sir  Stamford  Raffles  describes  the 
vegetation  of  Java  as  l  fearful.'  In  these  forests, 
the  air  is  heavily  charged  with  damp  and  deadly 
vapours,  never  agitated  by  a  breath  of  wind  ; 
the  soil,  of  the  deepest  black  vegetable  mould, 


72  THE  EQUINOCTIAL  ZONE. 

always  black  and  clammy,  stimulated  by  the 
fervid  heat  of  a  tropical  sun,  produces  trees 
whose  stems  are  of  a  spongy  texture,  from  their 
rapid  growth,  loaded  with  parasites,  especially 
the  orchideous  tribe,  of  which  no  less  than 
three  hundred  species  are  peculiar  to  the  island." 
Of  locopodia  more  than  two  hundred  species 
are  found,  and  the  tree  ferns  form  a  twentieth 
part  of  the  whole  vegetation.  Fruit  and  vege- 
tables proper  for  food  abound,  perhaps  more 
than  in  any  other  part  of  the  world,  and  no 
less  than  one  hundred  varieties  of  rice  grow 
here. 

Ceylon  is,  as  we  have  just  mentioned, 
the  country  of  cinnamon,  and  there  also  grows 
a  remarkable  tree,  Taberncemoniana  dichotoma, 
pretended  by  the  sages  of  that  country  to  be 
the  forbidden  fruit,  and  they  also  assert  that 
paradise  was  situated  in  that  island.  They  say 
that  it  may  be  identified  by  the  fragrance  of  its 
flower,  and  by  its  beautiful  tempting  fruit,  still 
bearing  the  marks  of  the  teeth  of  Eve.  Till 
the  sin  was  committed  they  pretend  the  fruit 
was  delicious,  but  from  that  time  forward  it 
became  poisonous,  as  it  now  remains. 

Of  the  flora  of  that  part  of  Africa  which  lies 
in  this  zone  very  little  is  known.  One  more 
feature  in  the  equinoctial  zone  must  be  noticed 
ere  we  leave  it.  When  the  atmosphere  and  soil 
are  destitute  of  its  proper  degree  of  humidity, 
there  is  a  striking  change  in  the  relations  of 
the  seasons.  In  the  height  of  summer,  the  trees 
lose  their  leaves,  and  the  herbs  die,  so  that  the 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS.  7 

appearance  of  the  vegetable  world  is  the  eame 
as  in  winter  with  us.  With  us  the  cause  is 
want  of  heat — in  these  regions  the  causa  is 
from  want  of  moisture.  Some  of  the  American 
plains,  during  the  dry  seasons,  are  as  desert 
as  the  Lybian  wastes,  but  during  the  wet 
season  they  are  covered  with  luxuriant  grasses 
and  the  smaller  acacias. 


THE  TROPICAL  ZONE.  75 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  tropical  zone  — Tree  ferns  — Ipomaea  — Passionflower- 
Victoria —  Potato — Arrow-root — Dumb-cane — Manchineel — 
Hura— Sandwich  Islands— Pandanus— Pine  apple— Banana 
— Taro— China— The  sub-tropical  zone— Succulent  plants- 
Euphorbias — Fig  tribe — India-rubber — Banian — Dracaena — 
Desert — Papyrus  —  Egypt  —  Gourd  tribe— Acacia— Balm  of 
Gilead — Tamarisk — Henna— Coffee — The  Land  of  Promise 
—Date  palm— Lily— Cedar— Olive—  Pomegranate— Carob— 
Myrtle  — India— Teak  tree  — Castor  oil  — Lemon  grass- 
Spikenard— Cotton— Himalayas— China— Tea— Rice— Aus- 
tralia—Acacias  —  Eucalyptus  —  Epacris— Grass  tree— South 
Africa — Proteas — Heaths  —  Geraniums  —  Mimosa — Aloe  — 
Cycas  —  House-leek  tribe  —  Deserts  —  North  America— To- 
bacco—Mexico— Agave— Furcraea— South  America— Cactus. 

THE  Tropical  Zone  extends  from  15°  N.  or  s. 
lat.  to  the  tropics  respectively,  and  has  an 
average  temperature  of  from  73°  to  80°  Fahr. 
The  principal  countries  embraced  by  this  zone 
are,  parts  of  Bolivia,  Brazil,  and  Paraguay,  in 
South  America ;  the  majority  of  the  West 
India  Islands,  Yucatan,  Guatemala,  and  part  of 
Mexico  ;  Nubia  and  Senegambia,  in  Africa ; 
Madagascar,  Mauritius,  and  North  Australia ; 
parts  of  China  and  India,  Burmah.  and  the 
south  of  Arabia.  A  considerable  part  of  the 
countries  within  this  zone  lies  under  such  con- 
ditions, that,  from  want  of  sufficient  moisture, 
and  from  having  too  poor  a  soil,  they  are  des- 


76        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

titute  of  almost  all  the  beauties  of  tropical 
vegetation.  Many  of  the  features  we  have 
described  under  the  last  zone  are  common  to 
this  also,  especially  where  the  moisture,  etc.,  is 
such  as  to  admit  of  the  development  of  vegeta- 
tion to  the  extent  the  climate  will  allow.  In 
some  portions  of  the  zone,  especially  the  south- 
ern, palms,  bananas,  mangroves,  orchideaceous 
parasites,  and  rope-like  climbers,  also  are  found. 
Tree  ferns,  and  plants  allied  to  the  convolvulus 
and  pepper  tribe,  are  some  of  its  most  striking 
features. 

The  tree  ferns  frequently  have  a  stem  forty 
or  forty-five  feet  high,  and  bearing  at  the  top 
a  beautiful  crown  of  those  peculiarly  graceful 
leaves  for  which  the  ferns  are  so  remarkable. 
Some  species  have  trunks  no  thicker  than  three 
inches  in  diameter,  but  twenty  to  twenty-eight 
feet  high,  with  a  cro\vn  of  fronds,  each  eight  or 
nine  feet  long,  of  the  most  elegant  and  feathery 
form,  and  from  their  extraordinary  delicacy 
put  into  tremulous  motion  by  the  gentlest  wind. 
It  will  thus  be  seen  that  they  bear  a  consi- 
derable external  resemblance  to  the  palms ; 
and,  in  fact,  so  close  is  the  similarity  of  the 
stems,  that  a  number  of  fossil  trunks,  which 
have  been  discovered  in  the  quarries  of  our 
more  northerly  regions,  and  which  were  con- 
sidered as  palms,  have  been  proved  by  later 
investigations  to  belong  almost  exclusively  to 
tree  ferns  and  cycadeas. 

The  tree  ferns  chiefly  prefer  moist,  and  espe- 
cially island  situations.  On  some  of  the  East 


THE  TROPICAL  ZONE.  77 

India  Islands  they  grow  in  such  numbers,  that 
their  stems  are  as  close  to  one  another  as  the 
slender  firs  and  pines  in  our  plantations.  In 
Australia  and  New  Zealand  they  abound.  In 
that  part  of  this  zone  which  lies  in  South 
America  several  interesting  plants  claim  our 
attention.  One  of  the  most  beautiful  is  the 
genus  Ipomcea,  a  vast  number  of  species  of 
which  abound,  especially  in  the  woods,  and 
with  their  large  and  beautiful  flowers,  like  those 
of  the  convolvulus,  of  every  variety  of  crimson, 
scarlet,  purple,  violet,  and  other  rich  colours, 
and  their  twining  stems,  forming  rich  festoons 
from  the  trees  and  bushes,  exhibit  a  most 
gorgeous  picture  to  the  eye  of  the  traveller. 
One  of  the  species  yields  the  drug  jalap ; 
another  (Ipomcea  tuberosa)  is  in  Jamaica  an 
evergreen  plant,  and  as  it  will  grow  to  an  enor- 
mous length,  (three  hundred  feet,)  and  is  pro- 
fusely clothed  with  leaves  and  handsome  yellow 
fragrant  flowers,  it  is  often  trained  over  lattice- 
work and  arbours,  giving  a  delightful  shade 
and  a  refreshing  perfume. 

The  passion  flower  is  another  plant  of  which 
numerous  species  inhabit  South  America  and  the 
West  Indies.  In  this,  their  native  soil,  they  are 
far  larger  than  in  our  country,  and  very  fragrant, 
and  climbing  to  the  top  of  the  highest  trees, 
(some  of  which  are  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
high,)  they  twine  about  the  branches,  and  clasp 
them  with  their  tendrils,  while  their  blossoms,  of 
every  shade  of  blue,  red,  white,  or  purple,  hang 
in  profusion  from  them.  The  name  of  passion 
7* 


78  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS 

flower  was  given  it  by  the  Spaniards,  who 
found  it  in  all  its  beauty  when  they  discovered 
America,  and  fancied  they  beheld  in  the  flower 
the  nails,  the  hammer,  the  rays  of  glory,  the 
number  of  the  apostles — an  emblem,  in  fact,  of 
our  Saviour's  crucifixion,  and  an  assurance  of 
conquest,  as  they  imagined,  in  the  name  of 
religion.  But  how  remote  their  conduct  was 
from  the  spirit  of  Him  in  whom  they  professed 
to  believe,  and  whom  they  professed  to  follow, 
let  the  history  of  the  conquest  of  South  America 
tell !  More  anxious  to  subjugate  the  Indians, 
to  acquire  their  riches,  and  to  force  upon  them 
the  principles  of  Popery,  than  to  manifest  the 
spirit  of  Christ,  "  the  very  men  who  beheld  in 
a  flower  of  the  forest  an  emblem  of  His  love — 
an  emblem  for  faith  to  rest  upon — carried 
misery  wherever  they  raised  their  standard." 
Seventy-six  species  of  passion  flower  inhabit 
tropical  South  America,  and  about  thirty  species 
are  found  in  the  West  Indies. 

Another  beautiful  flower,  allied  to  the  water 
lily  of  our  country,  but  of  far  more  splendid  form 
and  gigantic  dimensions,  (  Victoria  regina,)  inha- 
bits the  waters  of  South  America.  Its  leaf  is 
from  five  to  six  feet  in  diameter,  and  about  six- 
teen feet  in  circumference,  salver-shaped,  and 
with  a  rim  from  three  to  five  inches  high  rising 
from  its  edge,  green  within  and  crimson  outside. 
The  flower  is  of  a  proportionate  size,  the  ex- 
panded calyx  being  often  nearly  six  feet  in 
circumference  ;  this  contains  several  hundred 
petals,  the  outer  ones  being  white,  and  the 


THE  TROPICAL  ZONE.  79 

inner  pink,  with  every  intermediate  shade  in 
those  between,  and  exhaling  a  delicious  per- 
fume. 

The  potato  appears  to  have  its  indigenous 
country  in  the  Cordilleras  of  South  America,  and 
possibly  in  Virginia  also  ;  but  it  has  been  now 
so  generally  cultivated  in  both  places  for  so 
many  centuries,  that  it  is  very  difficult  now  to 
speak  with  certainty  as  to  its  native  habitat. 
It  still  seems  indigenous  in  Chili  and  Peru, 
where  it  is  a  native  of  the  sea-strand,  and  is  never 
found  naturally  more  than  four  hundred  feet 
above  its  level.  In  its  wild  state  the  root  is 
small  and  bitter,  and  the  stem  becomes  woody 
and  bristly  from  age.  This  is  one  of  the  many 
instances  in  which  cultivation  has  rendered 
some  of  the  most  unpromising  plants  useful  to 
man.  It  appears  that  it  was  introduced  into 
Europe  by  the  Spaniards  from  Quito,  early  in 
the  sixteenth  century  ;  but  not  into  our  own 
country  till  1586,  when  it  was  brought  from 
Virginia  by  sir  Walter  Ealeigh.  It  was  not, 
however,  till  more  than  one  hundred  years  after 
its  first  introduction  that  it  came  into  anything 
like  general  cultivation,  and  nearly  one  hun- 
dred years  more  elapsed  before  much  attention 
was  paid  to  its  varieties,  or  a  large  extent  of 
ground  employed  in  its  cultivation.  A  great 
degree  of  reluctance  seems  to  have  been  felt  by 
the  common  people  to  cultivate  this  useful 
vegetable.  Frederick  the  Great  even  compelled 
the  Pomeranians  to  accept  the  benefit.  It  does 
not  succeed  in  cultivation  in  the  plains  of  the 


80        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

torrid  zone,  though  it  will  grow  on  the  Andes  at 
from  9,800  to  13,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
sea,  nor  will  it  grow  further  north  than  Iceland. 

In  the  West  Indies,  the  arrow-root  plant 
(Maranta  arundinaced)  is  cultivated  to  a  great 
extent,  but  it  is  a  native  of  equinoctial  South 
America.  The  best  is  brought  from  the  Ber- 
mudas, in  the  sub-tropical  zone,  32°  N.  lat.,but 
large  quantities  are  also  imported  from  St. 
Vincent's.  The  South  Sea  arrow-root,  which  the 
late  rev.  J.  Williams  first  introduced  into  this 
country,  is  the  produce  of  a  tuberous-rooted  plant 
of  quite  a  different  character,  (Tacca pinnatifida.) 
The  arrow- root,  as  used  in  England,  is  the 
farina  or  starch  obtained  from  the  root,  by 
washing  the  rasped  or  pounded  tubers  in  water. 
It  is  said  to  owe  its  name  to  the  belief  of  its 
being  an  antidote  to  the  poison  of  the  arrows 
of  the  Indians.  Sugar,  which  is  the  principal 
produce  of  the  West  India  Islands,  we  have 
described  under  the  equinoctial  zone.  Pimento, 
or  allspice,  is  the  only  spice  which  occurs 
naturally  in  the  West  Indies,  and  it  is  remark- 
able, that  though  not  a  single  plant  has  been 
raised  by  sowing  the  seed,  yet  self-sown  it  mul- 
tiplies exceedingly. 

In  these  islands  also  is  found  the  dumb-cane, 
(Diefenbacliia  seguina^  one  of  the  arum  tribe. 
It  grows  to  the  height  of  a  man,  and  has  the 
property,  when  chewed,  of  causing  the  tongue  to 
swell,  and  thus  destroying  the  power  of  speech. 
Hooker  relates  an  account  of  a  gardener,  who 
incautiously  bit  a  piece  of  the  dumb-cane,  when 


THE  TROPICAL  ZONE.  81     - 

his  tongue  swelled  to  such  a  degree  that  he 
could  not  move  it ;  he  became  utterly  incapable- 
of  speaking,  and  was  confined  to  the  house  for 
some  days  in  the  most  excruciating  torments. 
Another  extremely  venomous  West  Indian  plant 
is  Isotoma  longiflora,  a  lobeliaceous  plant ;  the 
Spanish  Americans  call  \bPrebenta  caballos,  be- 
cause it  proves  fatal  to  horses  that  eat  it,  causing 
them  to  swell  until  they  burst ;  taken  internally 
it  acts  as  a  violent  cathartic,  the  effects  of  which 
no  remedy  can  assuage,  and  which  end  in  death  ; 
the  leaves  make  a  powerful  blister. 

The  manchineel  tree  (Hippomane  mancinella) 
is  a  native  of  these  islands,  and  has  been  already 
alluded  to.  It  is  extremely  poisonous,  and  the 
juice  when  applied  to  the  skin  produces  cor- 
roding ulcers.  It  has  been  stated  on  good 
authority,  that  if  a  person  takes  refuge  under 
one  of  these  trees  from  a  shower  of  rain,  the- 
droppings  become  charged  with  its  exudations, 
and  produce  troublesome  sores  on  any  part  of 
the  skin  which  they  may  touch.  The  fruit  is 
very  beautiful,  and  looks  like  an  apple,  but  is 
filled  with  a  juice  similar  to  that  of  the  tree,  but 
milder  ;  the  burning  that  it  causes  in  the  lips 
of  those  that  bite  it,  guards  the  careless  from. 
the  dangers  of  eating. 

Hum  crepitans,  the  sand-box  tree,  a  tree  of  the 
spurge  tribe,  has  also  a  very  poisonous  juice,  vio- 
lently purgative,  and  if  it  gets  into  the  eyes  pro- 
duces blindness,  with  intolerable  pain.  Its  seeds 
are  said  to  have  been  administered  to  negro- 
slaves,  in  doses  of  one  or  two,  as  purgatives,  but, 


82        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

with  fatal  consequences.  Its  capsule  has  the 
curious  property,  when  quite  ripe,  of  bursting 
with  a  loud  report  like  a  pistol,  scattering  the 
seeds  with  great  force  ;  many  of  our  native  eu- 
phorbias exhibit  the  same  property  in  a  slight 
degree,  as  may  easily  be  observed  by,  gathering  a 
few  of  the  riper  capsules,  and  spreading  them  on 
a  paper  in  a  dry  warm  place.  It  is  a  native  of 
Jamaica.  The  inner  bark  of  Lagetta  lintearia 
is  the  beautiful  lace  bark,  so  ciilled  because 
when  macerated  and  stretched*  laterally,  it 
assumes  the  appearance  of  coarse  lace  ;  twisted 
and  knotted,  it  was  formerly  employed  in 
making  the  slave  whips  used  by  negro  drivers. 
In  the  thick  woods  of  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
an  endless  mass  of  tree  ferns,  screw  pines,  (Pan- 
danuSj)  and  others,  are  so  closely  interwoven  by 
the  various  species  of  ipomsea,  that  all  the 
climbing-plants  must  be  torn  down  in  order  to 
force  a  path.  In  some  parts,  the  screw  pines, 
and  plants  of  the  pine  apple  tribe,  (Ananas,) 
appear  in  great  numbers  ;  "  they  climb  up  the 
trunks  of  the  trees,  and  surround  them  with 
hundreds  of  branches,  so  that  their  foliage  is 
impenetrable,  and  the  traveller  must  pursue 
his  journey  upon  this  matting  of  vegetation  ;  at 
last  he  walks,  without  perceiving  it,  at  a  height 
of  eight  or  ten  feet  above  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  and  it  is  only  where  he  reaches  a  fissure 
in  this  mountain  of  plants  that  he  can  survey 
the  enormous  mass."  The  pandanus,  or  screw 
pine,  has  a  singular  appearance  ;  it  has  long, 
narrow,  shining  green  leaves,  which  grow 


THE  TROPICAL  ZONE.  83 

in  spiral  lines  round  the  tall  stems,  and  cover 
them  to  the  top.  Some  of  these  are  upright, 
others  climbing  plants,  and  are  never  branched 
except  when  very  old.  Some  very  singular 
species  of  pandanus  have  their  trunks  covered 
with  roots,  which  descend  to  the  ground  like 
tightly -drawn  cords,  and  support  the  main 
trunk.  One  species  (Pandanus  odoratissimus) 
is  very  common  in  the  South  Sea  Islands  ;  its 
flowers  are  of  such  delightful  fragrance,  that  it 
is  often  cultivated  in  Egypt  and  Arabia  for 
their  sake.  Its  fruit  reaches  the  size  of  a 
child's  head,  and  much  resembles  the  pine 
apple.  The  pine  apple  tribe  are  especially 
luxuriant  in  this,  as  well  as  in  the  equatorial 
zone.  The  pine  apple,  which  is  cultivated  in 
our  hot-houses,  is  found  wild  in  abundance  in 
the  Molucca  Islands,  and  in  many  parts  both 
of  Asia  and  America.  In  Surinam,  Brazil,  and 
the  Indies,  it  is  used  for  inclosing  the  fields, 
and  forms  thick  hedges,  while  its  sharp-edged 
and  toothed  leaves  effectually  keep  out  all  ani- 
mals. It  was  first  cultivated  in  England  at  the 
end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  but  so  successful 
have  been  the  efforts  to  improve  its  cultivation, 
that  the  fruit  grown  in  England  is  more  prized 
than  that  cultivated  abroad. 

The  multitude  of  islands,  termed  Polynesia, 
form  a  botanical  district  by  themselves.  Com- 
posite, or  syngenesious  plants,  with  tree  ferns, 
constitute  the  principal  portion  of  the  vegeta- 
tion. Ferns  are  so  numerous  that  there  is  one 
species  of  them  for  every  three  or  four  flower- 


84       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

ing  plants,  while  in  tropical  Australia  and 
India  the  proportion  is  as  one  to  twenty-six. 
The  cocoa-nut  abounds  ;  the  bread  fruit,  of 
which  fifty  varieties  are  indigenous,  yields 
three  or  four  crops  annually.  The  banana, 
(Musa  paradisaica^  with  several  allied  species 
and  varieties,  is  plentiful  throughout  the 
islands  ;  an  acre  of  ground,  planted  with  ba- 
nanas, will  produce  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
three  times  as  much  food  as  if  planted  with 
wheat,  and  forty-four  times  as  much  as  with 
potatoes.  Still,  as  the  -banana  is  not  so  nutri- 
tious as  these,  it  will  not  suffice  to  support  so 
many  individuals  as  would  appear  at  first  from 
these  statements.  Humboldt  calculates  that  a 
banana  plantation  will  support  about  twenty- 
five  times  as  many  individuals  as  the  same 
extent  of  ground  sown  with  wheat.  Perhaps 
there  is  no  other  plant  whose  produce  is  so  im- 
mense. It  is  to  the  inhabitants  of  some  tropical 
countries  what  wheat,  barley,  and  rye,  are  to 
the  inhabitants  of  Europe  and  Western  Asia, 
and  what  the  numerous  varieties  of  rice  are  to 
those  of  the  countries  beyond  the  Indus.  The 
labour  of  cultivating  it  is  very  slight,  and  its 
growth  very  rapid,  while  it  flowers  and  bears  fruit, 
through  the  whole  year.  Humboldt  remarks, 
that  a  European  traveller,  newly  arrived  in  the 
torrid  zone,  is  struck  with  nothing  so  much  as 
the  extreme  smallness  of  the  spots  under  culti- 
vation round  a  cabin  which  contains  a  numer- 
ous family  of  Indians.  Thirty-six  good-sized 
fruits  are  sufficient  to  support  a  man  entirely  for 


THE  TROPICAL  ZONE.  &£) 

a  week,  and  they  are  eaten  either  fresh  or  dried. 
A  single  cluster  of  bananas,  produced  upon  a 
single  plant,  often  contains  from  one  hundred 
and  sixty  to  one  hundred  and  eighty  fruits, 
weighing  altogether  from  seventy  to  eighty 
pounds.  Yet  this  facility  with  which  food  can 
be  procured  has  doubtless  contributed  to  retard 
the  progress  of  improvement  in  tropical  regions, 
while  the  necessity  of  the  European  has  called 
forth  his  industry  ;  and  that,  under  his  colder 
skies  and  less  fertile  soil,  has  surrounded  him 
with  all  the  blessings  of  society,  its  comforts, 
its  affections,  and  its  intellectual  riches. 

The  taro  plant  (Colocasia  macrorhiza,  01 
Arum  esculentum  of  former  botanists,)  is  one  of 
the  most  valuable  of  the  productions  of  the 
South  Sea  Islands.  It  belongs  to  the  arum 
tribe,  and  is  cultivated  for  the  sake  of  its  roots, 
which  afford  an  excellent  and  nutritious  food, 
and  are  eaten  either  roasted  or  boiled.  They 
require  a  low  and  wet  ground,  abundantly  sup- 
plied with  water,  and  are  planted  a  yard  apart, 
to  allow  full  room  for  the  growth  of  their 
tubers.  They  are  fit  for  use  in  six  months 
after  being  planted,  but  are  much  improved  by 
being  permitted  to  remain  in  the  ground  a  year. 
In  that  portion  of  China  which  lies  in  this  zone, 
the  Chinese  pine  forms  woods  as  extensive  as 
the  common  pine  with  us  and  in  the  north  of 
Europe,  and  contrasts  strikingly  with  the  airy 
groves  of  the  bamboos  and  arborescent  grasses. 
In  Madagascar  Tanghmia  venenifera  occurs, 
which  is  one  of  the  most  active  and  virulent 
8 


86        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

of  known  poisons.  The  kernel  of  the  fruit, 
though  not  larger  than  an  almond,  is  suffi- 
cient to  destroy  twenty  people.  It  was  used 
in  Madagascar  as  an  ordeal,  but  is  now  discon- 
tinued. 

3.  The  Sub-tropical  Zone  extends  from  the 
tropics  to  34°  N.  or  s.  lat.  Its  mean  tempera- 
ture is  from  62°  to  69°  Fahr.,  and  with  an 
average  summer  heat  of  from  73°  to  82°.  Its 
climate  is  one  of  the  most  delightful  on  the 
globe,  and  many  of  the  tropical  fruits,  with 
many  plants  which  properly  belong  to  the  equi- 
noctial zone,  are  found  in  it,  while  the  winters 
are  so  mild  that  man  scarcely  needs  the  sub- 
stantial dwellings  of  colder  climes.  It  embraces 
the  north  of  Africa,  including  the  Great 
Desert,  Morocco,  Barbary,  Algiers,  Tunis,  Tri- 
poli, and  Egypt ;  in  Asia,  Palestine,  Syria,  the 
north  of  Arabia,  Persia,  Cabul,  Beloochistan, 
Thibet,  the  north  of  India  and  China ;  the 
southern  part  of  Australia ;  South  Africa ; 
Paraguay,  La  Plata,  Chili,  Banda,  in  South 
America  ;  the  Bahamas,  Bermudas,  Mexico, 
Texas,  the  Southern  States,  and  California,  in 
North  America.  The  vegetation  of  this  zone  is 
very  interesting  and  very  important.  Like  the 
damper  regions  of  the  tropical  zone,  the  plants 
are  green  all  the  year  round,  A  number  of 
succulent  plants,  of  the  house -leek,  stone- 
crop,  Mesenibryanthemum,  and  other  tribes,  are 
distinguishing  features  of  this  zone,  especially 
in  Africa.  Many  of  them  have  beautiful 
fiowers,  while  their  thick,  succulent  leaves,  with 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  87 

few  pores,  defend  the  juices  of  the  plants  from 
the  rapid  evaporation  which  would  otherwise 
be  caused  by  the  powerful  rays  of  the  sun. 

The  ice  plant  is  a  well-known  example  of  this 
kind  of  plants,  some  few  species  of  which  are 
found  in  our  climate,  for  example,  the  common 
house-leek.  In  the  Island  of  Madeira,  there  is  a 
species  of  house-leek,  which  attains  the  form  and 
character  of  a  tree.  But  some  of  the  most 
remarkable  and  peculiar  plants  of  this  zone 
are  the  large  and  even  tree-like  euphorbias, 
(Spurges,)  which,  with  their  angular,  succulent 
stems,  seem  to  imitate  the  cactuses  of  America. 
These  plants,  which  are  very  various  in  form, 
are  generally  of  the  most  acrid  and  poisonous 
nature,  though  some  are  possessed  of  exactly 
opposite  qualities,  and  are  both  innoxious  and 
nutritious.  The  number  of  species  of  euphor- 
bia and  its  allied  genera,  is  said  to  be  two 
thousand  five  hundred  ;  by  far  the  greater  part 
of  which  are  tropical,  or  sub- tropical,  and  very 
few  inhabit  colder  regions.  It  is  believed  that 
fully  half  of  the  tropical  species  belong  to 
America.  Euphorbia  balsamifera  is  a  native  of 
the  Canary  Islands,  the  milk  of  which  is  so  in- 
noxious and  sweet,  that  it  is  thickened  to  jelly, 
and  eaten  by  the  inhabitants.  The  cordon, 
(Euphorbia  Canariensis,)  another  denizen  of  the 
Canaries,  whose  juice  is  as  acrid  as  that  of 
many  of  the  other  euphorbias,  is  a  very  singular 
plant.  Its  dark  green,  prismatic  branches,  six 
inches  in  circumference,  completely  leafless, 
and  edged  with  pairs  of  short  prickles,  rise  all 


88        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

at  once  from  a  common  root,  bend  down  in 
a  semicircle  to  the  ground,  and  then  rise 
again  perpendicularly  at  various  distances  from 
the  first  root,  so  that  the  tree  resembles  an 
enormous  lustre,  with  a  number  of  branches 
bearing  lights.  At  the  extremity  of  these 
thick,  fleshy  branches,  break  forth  the  scarlet 
flowers,  which,  at  a  distance,  are  like  burning 
coals.  In  Africa  and  Asia,  the  leafless  thorny 
euphorbias  are  often  planted  for  fences,  and 
they  serve  most  effectually  to  keep  out  in- 
truders, injuring  those  who  attempt  to  pass,  not 
only  by  their  sharp  spines,  but  by  the  poison- 
ous juices  they  instil  into  the  wounds  made  by 
them.  To  this  zone  belong  also  many  of  the 
fig  tribe. 

The  common  fig  is  the  produce  of  Ficus 
carica,  and  the  wholesomeness  of  the  fruit  is 
remarkable,  inasmuch  as  the  juice  of  the  tree 
itself  is  very  acrid.  22,768  cwts.  of  figs  were 
imported  into  this  country  in  1848,  chiefly 
from  Turkey  and  the  Levant.  The  fig  seems 
to  have  been  to  the  natives  of  the  east  in 
former  days,  what  the  banana  is  to  the  Indian 
tribes  of  South  America  at  this  day.  With 
little  trouble  of  cultivation,  and  whether  fresh  or 
dried,  it  supplied  their  principal  necessities,  and 
its  failure  was  considered  by  the  Jews  a  most 
grievous  calamity.  "  Although  the  fig  tree 
shall  not  blossom,  neither  shall  fruit  be  in  the 
vines  ;  the  labour  of  the  olive  shall  fail,  and 
the  fields  shall  yield  no  meat ;  the  flock  shall 
be  cut  off  from  the  fold,  and  there  shall  be  no 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  89 

herd  in  the  stalls  ;  yet  I  will  rejoice  in  the 
Lord,  I  will  joy  in  the  God  of  my  salvation," 
is  language  expressive  of  the  firm  confidence  in 
God  which  the  prophet  entertained,  amidst  the 
most  terrible  famine,  and  the  greatest  earthly 
calamities. 

In  Egypt  and  Palestine  grows  the  sycamore 
of  Scripture,  which  is  not  the  same  tree  as  the 
one  known  by  that  name  in  this  country.  The 
latter  is  a  species  of  maple — the  sycamore  of 
Palestine  is  a  species  of  fig,  (Ficus  sycomorus.) 
It  is  a  wide-spreading  tree,  fifty  or  sixty  feet 
high,  with  a  trunk  often  of  such  thickness  that 
three  men  cannot  embrace  it.  Probably  our 
Saviour  had  such  a  tree  before  him  when  he 
said,  "  If  ye  had  faith  as  a  grain  of  mustard 
seed,  ye  might  say  unto  this  sycamine  tree,  Be 
thou  plucked  up  by  the  root,  and  be  thou 
planted  in  the  sea  ;  and  it  should  obey  you," 
Luke  xvii.  6.  Its  vigorous  branches  and  beau- 
tiful evergreen  foliage  afford  a  delightful  shade, 
while  its  fruit  seems  to  have  been  an  important 
article  of  food  in  Egypt  and  Palestine,  and  is 
still  used  to  a  considerable  extent.  Its  import- 
ance is  noticed  in  Psalm  Ixxviii.  47,  "  He  de- 
stroyed their  vines  with  hail,  and  their  sycamore 
trees  with  frost,"  evidently  implying  a  heavy 
calamity.  The  lower  classes  in  Egypt  at  this 
day  think  themselves  well  regaled  when  they 
have  a  piece  of  bread,  a  couple  of  sycamore  figs, 
and  a  jug  of  water  from  the  Nile.  The  prophet 
Amos,  we  are  told  by  himself,  was  a  "  gatherer 
of  sycamore  fruit,"  Amos  vii.  14.  Its  abun- 


90        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

dance  in  ancient  Palestine  is  alluded  to  in 
1  Kings  x.  27,  "  And  the  king  (Solomon)  made 
....  cedars  to  be  as  the  sycamore  trees  that 
are  in  the  vale,  for  abundance." 

The  valuable  substance,  India-rubber,  now 
so  extensively  employed  in  the  manufactures  of 
this  country,  is  furnished  by  many  species  of 
fig  in  great  abundance.  All  that  is  imported 
from  India  is  the  produce  of  Ficus  elastica,  and 
various  Javanese  and  American  species  yield  it 
freely.  It  is  obtained  by  making  incisions  into 
the  tree,  and  collecting  the  sap  as  it  flows  ; 
when  hardened  by  exposure  to  the  air  it  forms 
caoutchouc,  or  India-rubber.  It  has  of  late 
years  been  very  extensively  and  increasingly 
used  in  this  country,  and  especially  since  the 
discovery  of  certain  liquids  which  will  dissolve 
it,  so  that  it  may  be  applied  in  the  manner 
of  varnish,  from  which,  when  spread  lightly 
over  any  substance,  the  dissolving  liquid  being 
very  volatile,  evaporates,  and  leaves  a  very  thin 
film  of  caoutchouc  behind.  In  this  manner  the 
waterproof  cloths  and  fabrics  are  made,  which 
are  now  so  largely  used.  Some  idea  may  be 
formed  of  the  rapidly  increasing  consumption  of 
this  article  from  the  fact,  that  in  1830  the 
quantity  imported  into  England  was  52,000 
pounds  ;  in  1833,  180,000  pounds  ;  while  in 
1847,  659,568  pounds  were  imported.  Some 
species  of  fig,  as  the  banyan,  (Ficus  Indica^) 
send  off  shoots  from  their  long  horizontal 
branches,  which  descend  to  the  earth,  and  there 
taking  root,  become  subsidiary  trunks,  which 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  91 

at  length  often  become  as  portly  as  the  parent 
stem.     Milton  beautifully  describes  it — 

"  The  lig  tree,  not  that  kind  for  fruit  renowned, 
But  such  as  at  this  day,  to  Indians  known, 
In  Malabar  or  Deccan  spreads  her  arms, 
Branching  so  broad  and  long,  that  in  the  ground 
The  bended  twigs  take  root,  and  daughters  grow 
About  the  mother  tree,  a  pillar'd  shade, 
High  over-arch'd,  and  echoing  walks  between: 
There  oft  the  Indian  herdsman,  shunning  heat, 
Shelters  in  cool,  and  tends  his  pasturing  herds 
At  loop  holes  cut  through  thickest  shade." 

There  is  a  tree  of  it  on  the  banks  of  the 
Nerbudda,  in  the  province  of  Guzerat,  with 
350  main  stems,  occupying'  an  area  of  2,000 
feet,  independently  of  the  branches,  which  ex- 
tend much  further.  The  number  of  smaller 
stems  amounted  to  more  than  3,000,  and  are 
continually  casting  out  new  branches  and  hang- 
ing roots.  It  is  estimated  that  7,000  persons 
might  find  ample  room  beneath  its  shade — 

A  sylvan  temple,  arch'd  aloof 

With  airy  aisles  and  living  colonnades 

Where  nations  might  have  worshipp'd  God  in  peace. 

Mr.  Reinwardt  saw  in  the  Island  of  Simao 
a  large  wood  of  Ficus  Benjamina,  which  had 
sprung  from  one  stem.  Milton  supposes  the 
leaves  of  the  banyan  to  have  been  the  fig  leaves 
with  which  our  first  parents  clothed  themselves 
after  the  fall.  The  tenacity  of  life  in  some 
species  of  fig  is  very  remarkable.  A  specimen 
of  Ficus  Australia  lived,  and  grew  suspended  in 
the  air  without  earth,  in  one  of  the  hot-houses 
in  the  Botanic  Garden  at  Edinburgh,  for  eight 
months,  without  apparently  experiencing  any 
inconvenience.  The  whole  tribe  of  fig  trees, 


92        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

indeed,  including  many  more  species  than  those 
we  have  briefly  noticed,  is  one  of  the  most 
marked  peculiarities  of  a  tropical  scene. 

The  Canary  Islands  are  celebrated  for  a  very 
remarkable  tree,  the  dragon's  blood,  (Draccena 
draco.)  One  of  these  trees,  at  the  Villa  Ora- 
tava,  in  Teneriffe,  has  been  stated  to  be  between 
seventy  and  seventy-five  feet  high,  and  forty-six 
and  a  half  feet  in  circumference  at  the  base  ;  it 
was  a  very  ancient  tree  in  the  year  1402,  and 
is  still  alive  and  productive.  It  yields  a  deep 
red  resin,  called  dragon's  blood  ;  but  the  sub- 
stance sold  in  our  shops  under  that  name 
is  the  produce  of  some  palms,  of  the  genus 
Calamus. 

In  the  north  of  Africa,  we  find  the  great 
Desert  of  Sahara,  which  occupies  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  sub-tropical  part  of  that  continent. 
Of  course,  on  "the  desert  itself  we  do  not  expect 
to  discover  any  trace  of  vegetation  ;  except  that 
here  and  there,  where  a  spring  arises,  a  spot  of 
verdure  is  seen,  called  an  oasis  ;  here  palms, 
acacias,  and  other  prickly  plants,  are  found. 
On  the  borders  of  the  desert,  at  the  base  of  the 
Atlas  range,  the  date  palm  forms  large  forests, 
nourished  by  the  moisture  which  descends  from 
the  mountains,  and  affords  food  to  the  inha- 
bitants, and  shelter  to  crops  which  could  not 
otherwise  grow  ;  for  the  drought  on  the  borders 
of  the  desert  is  so  excessive,  that  no  other  trees 
can  resist  it,  rain  hardly  ever  falls,  and  the 
scorching  blasts  from  the  south  speedily  dry  up 
any  moisture  that  may  exist.  The  desert  has 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  93 

greatly  extended  its  boundaries  within  the 
limits  of  history ;  considerable  portions  of 
Egypt,  -which  were  once  covered  with  a  rich 
vegetation,  and  studded  with  populous  cities, 
are  now  sandy  wastes,  and  cities,  temples, 
and  palaces,  are  buried  beneath  the  sands — 
while  it  bids  fair  to  overwhelm  still  more  and 
more  of  that  ancient  and  fertile  country.  But 
we  must  look  a  little  at  the  vegetation  of  this 
part  of  the  world. 

The  papyrus  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
plants  of  Egypt,  having  been  used  by  the 
ancients  as  a  material  for  writing  upon  long 
before  the  invention  of  paper.  Our  word 
"  paper"  is,  indeed,  derived  from  the  name  and 
use  of  this  plant.  It  is  one  of  the  sedge  tribe, 
(Cyperacece)  inhabiting  stagnant  pools  and  lakes, 
though  sometimes  found  in  rapid  streams.  The 
stems  were  the  part  used  by  the  ancients,  arid 
their  thin  plates  of  cellular  tissue  were  united 
by  moistening  and  pressing  them  together,  so  as 
to  form  a  sheet,  their  substance  being  of  so 
adhesive  a  nature  as  to  require  no  other  cement. 
Sheets  of  large  size  were  thus  formed.  Belzoni 
had  one  twenty-three  feet  long  by  eighteen 
inches  broad.  Large  quantities  were  exported 
to  Greece  and  Rome,  where  it  was  the  only 
material  used  for  writings  intended  to  be  pre- 
served, until  the  invention  of  parchment, 
B.C.  250.  Papyrus,  however,  still  continued  to 
be  in  demand  till  the  invasion  of  Egypt  by  the 
Saracens,  in  the  seventh  century,  when  parch- 
ment >vas  generally  substituted  for  it. 


94       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

The  quantity  made  by  the  ancient  Egyptians 
must  have  been  very  great,  judging  by  the 
number  of  rolls  often  found  in  the  tombs  and 
mummy  cases.  In  the  museum  of  Naples,  there 
are  nearly  one  thousand  eight  'hundred  MSS. 
of  this  description,  which  have  been  dug  out  of 
a  small  part  of  the  city  of  Herculaneum,  whence 
tht>  number  that  must  have  existed  in  the 
Roman  empire  at  that  time  may  in  some  degree 
be  imagined.  The  papyrus  is  doubtless  the 
plant  alluded  to  in  Scripture  as  the  bulrush, 
of  which  the  ark  was  made  for  the  infant  Moses, 
(Exod.  ii.  3,)  and  also  the  vessels  of  bulrushes  in 
which  men  sailed,  (Isa.  xviii.  2.)  Pliny  notices 
"  ships  made  of  papyrus  ; "  and  in  another  place 
he  sa}7s,  "  of  the  papyrus  itself  they  construct 
sailing-vessels." 

It  is  singular  that,  even  at  the  present  day, 
the  leaves  of  the  date  palm  are  used  to  form 
a  sailing-vessel,  which  is  much  employed  in 
crossing  the  Tigris.  They  are  woven  into  a 
kind  of  basket-work,  and  are  thickly  coated 
with  bitumen  to  render  them  water-proof. 
Egypt  was  once  celebrated  as  the  granary  of 
Europe,  and  was  the  most  fertile  country  in  the 
world.  In  Gen.  xli.  47,  it  is  said,  that  during 
the  seven  years  of  plenty,  u  the  earth  brought 
forth  by  handfuls,"  that  is,  probably,  each 
stalk  produced  as  much  as  the  hand  could 
grasp.  Such  productiveness,  or  even  more,  is 
not  unusual  at  this  day.  Mr.  Jowett  pulled, 
at  random,  a  few  plants  from  a  corn-field 
in  Egypt,  to  ascertain  how  many  stems  grew 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  95 

from  one  grain  of  wheat.  The  first  had 
seven  stalks,  the  next  three,  the  third  eighteen, 
the  fourth  fourteen.  Each  stalk  bore  an  ear. 
It  often  happens  that  one  stalk  will  bear  two 
ears,  while  each  of  these  ears  will  branch  out 
into  a  number  of  lesser  ones,  thus  aifording  a 
plentiful  increase.  Egypt  is  indebted  for  its 
fertility  to  a  system  of  artificial  irrigation,  esta- 
blished in  the  times  of  its  ancient  prosperity. 
To  the  same  cause  the  plain  of  Lombardy 
formerly  owed  its  richness,  and  its  inhabitants 
their  opulence,  and  we  may  add,  their  liberty, 
when  the  nations  of  Europe  were  immersed  in 
•  ignorance  and  barbarism. 

The  cucumber  and  the  gourd  have  been  cul- 
tivated in  Egypt  from  the  earliest  times.  "  We 
remember,"  said  the  Israelites  in  the  wilderness, 
"  the  fish  which  we  did  eat  in  Egypt  freely  ;  the 
cucumbers,  and  the  melons,  and  the  leeks,  and  the 
onions,  and  the  garlic,"  Num.  xi.  5  ;  and  these 
cooling  vegetables,  the  water  melon  particularly, 
still  form  the  great  part  of  the  food  of  the  lower 
class  of  the  people  in  Egypt  during  the  summer 
months.  "  A  traveller  in  the  east,  who  recol- 
lects the  intense  gratitude  which  the  gift  of  a 
slice  of  melon  inspired  while  journeying  over 
the  hot  and  dry  plains,  or  one  who  remembers 
the  consciousness  of  wealth  and  security  which 
he  derived  from  the  possession  of  a  melon,  while 
prepared  for  a  day's  journey  over  the  same 
plains — he  will  readily  comprehend  the  regret 
with  which  the  Hebrews  in  the  Arabian  desert 
looked  back  upon  the  melons  of  Egypt."  Garlic 


96        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

and  onions  have  been  esteemed  in  Egypt  from 
very  early  times  ;  and  Hasselquist  shows,  that 
there  is  good  reason  for  the  superior  value  there 
set  on  them.  "  Whoever,"  he  says,  "  has  tasted 
onions  in  Egypt,  will  allow  that  none  better  are 
to  be  had  in  any  part  of  the  universe.  Here 
they  are  sweet,  in  other  countries  they  are 
nauseous  and  strong ;  here  they  are  soft, 
whereas  in  the  northern  and  other  parts  they 
are  hard.  Hence  they  cannot  in  any  place  be 
eaten  with  less  prejudice  and  more  satisfaction 
than  in  Eprypt." 

Most  of  the  people  of  western  Asia  are  re- 
markably fond  of  onions,  and  the  Arabs  are. 
passionately  so.  The  garlic  of  Egypt  was  for- 
merly much  esteemed  ;  Dioscorides  says,  that 
garlic  anciently  grew  very  plentifully  in  Egypt ; 
and  Herodotus  tells  us,  that  in  his  time  there 
was  an  inscription  on  the  great  pyramid,  re- 
cording the  expense  of  the  onions,  radishes,  and 
garlic,  which  had  been  consumed  by  the  work- 
men during  the  progress  of  the  undertaking. 
The  cucumber  of  Egypt  is  far  less  apt  to  dis- 
agree with  the  stomach  than  those  grown  in 
England ;  indeed,  when  in  season,  they  are 
eaten  by  all  classes  to  an  extent  which  would 
scarcely  seem  credible  in  this  country.  In  Syria, 
the  cucumber  was  cultivated  in  open  fields,  far 
from  the  habitations  of  men  ;  and  here  a  hut 
was  erected  for  the  watchman,  who  guarded  the 
fruit  from  foxes  and  jackals.  Bishop  Heber 
saw  in  India  a  man  in  a  small  shed  of  bamboo 
and  thatch,  thus  watching  a  field  of  cucumbera. 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  97 

The  language  of  Isaiah  recurred  to  his  mind, 
when,  speaking  of  the  desolation  of  Judah,  he 
says,  "  The  daughter  of  Zion  is  left  as  a  cottage 
in  a  vineyard,  as  a  lodge  in  a  garden  of  cucum- 
bers." But  the  force  and  truth  of  the  figure 
were  still  more  strikingly  seen,  when,  a  short 
time  after,  returning  the  same  way,  the  crop 
was  gathered,  the  hut  destroyed,  the  bamboos 
lying  in  every  direction,  the  thatch  scattered, 
and  all  was  desolation  and  destruction.  In 
Egypt,  the  doum  and  date  palms  abound  :  these 
we  shall  notice  again  presently. 

In  Arabia,  we  find  the  colocynth,  a  plant  of 
the  melon  tribe,  inhabiting  also  the  Levant. 
It  is,  however,  a  very  active  purgative,  and  is 
much  used  at  the  present  day  in  medicine. 
The  wild  vine,  producing  the  poisonous  gourds 
spoken  of  in  2  Kings  iv.  38 — 41,  and  which, 
while  occasioning  the  alarming  cry,  "  O  thou 
man  of  God,  there  is  death  in  the  pot,"  gave 
opportunity  for  the  miracle  performed  by 
Elisha,  is  supposed  to  have  been  this  plant. 
A  still  more  active  plant  is  the  Momordica 
elaterium,  or  squirting  cucumber,  the  dried 
juice  of  which  is  one  of  the  most  violent  pur- 
gatives known,  a  few  grains  having  destroyed 
life.*  It  is,  however,  useful  in  dropsy,  but  one- 
eighth  of  a  grain  is  a  sufficient  dose.  It  is 
probably  the  "  vine  of  Sodom,"  spoken  of  in 
Dent,  xxxii.  32.  A  species  of  luffa,  a  South 
American  cucurbitaceous  plant,  possesses  similar 
qualities.  These  all  inhabit  the  same  latitudes 
as  the  cucumber,  gourd,  etc.  Arabia  is  also 
9 


98        THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

the  country  of  gums  and  balsams,  a  large  num- 
ber of  its  plants  and  trees  abounding  in  sucn 
exudations.  Gum  arabic  is  obtained  in  large 
quantities  from  Acacia  vera  and  A.  ardbica. 
The  best  and  whitest  comes  from  the  last- 
named  species.  It  is  gathered  in  vast  quanti- 
ties from  the  trees  growing  in  Arabia  Petrsea, 
near  the  foot  of  Mount  Sinai ;  and  is  so  nutri- 
tious, that  the  Moors  who  collect  it  live  almost 
entirely  upon  it  during  the  whole  of  the  gum 
harvest,  which  lasts  five  weeks,  and  the  subse- 
quent journey  of  transport.  Gum  Senegal,  an 
inferior  kind  of  gum  arabic,  is  the  produce  of 
Acacia  Senegal,  a  tree  which  inhabits  Arabia 
and  the  interior  of  Africa,  and  sometimes  forms 
large  forests.  In  1839,  15,628  cwt.  of  gum 
arabic,  and  24,698  cwt.  of  gum  Senegal,  were 
imported  into  this  country.  Several  other 
species  of  mimosa  and  acacia  also  inhabit  Arabia. 
The  balm  of  Mecca  is  the  produce  of  a  tree 
growing  between  Mecca  and  Medina,  (Balsamo- 
dendron  opolalsamum,)  and  the  balm  of  Gilead 
of  another  species  of  the  same  genus,  (B. 
Gileadense,)  also  a  native  of  Arabia.  The  balm 
of  Gilead  was  held  in  very  high  estimation  in 
the  most  ancient  times,  as  a  medicine  and  cos- 
metic. The  Ishmaelites  carrying  Arabian 
commodities  into  Egypt,  made  it  part  of  their 
merchandise,  (Gen.  xxxvii.  25  ;)  and  it  was 
among  the  presents  which  Jacob  sent  to 
Joseph  while  ruler  of  Egypt,  (Gen.  xliii. 
11.)  The  value  which  was  set  upon  it  as 
a  healing  medicine  of  extraordinary  virtue, 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  99 

may  be  seen  from  the  mention  of  it  by  the 
prophet :  "  Is  there  no  balm  in  Gilead  ;  is 
there  no  physician  there  ?  why  then  is  not 
the  health  of  the  daughter  of  my  people  re- 
covered?" Jer.  viii.  22;  "  Go  up  into  Gilead, 
and  take  balm,  O  virgin,  the  daughter  of 
Egypt :  in  vain  shalt  thou  use  many  medi- 
cines ;  for  thou  shalt  not  be  cured,"  Jer. 
xlvi.  11 ;  "  Take  balm  for  her  pain,  if  so  be  she 
may  be  healed,"  Jer.  li.  8.  According  to  Pliny 
and  Justin,  it  was  anciently  so  abundant  in  the 
vale  of  Jericho,  that  there  were  whole  parks  of 
balsam  trees  there  ;  and  we  know  from  Scrip- 
ture that  it  grew  in  Gilead,  on  the  Syrian  side 
of  the  Jordan.  Now,  however,  it  has  totally 
disappeared  from  Palestine,  and  is  only  to  be 
found  in  Arabia,  which  seems  to  be  its  native 
country.  It  is  procured  by  incision  in  the  tree, 
but  the  quantity  collected  is  very  small.  The 
large  park  in  the  vale  of  Jericho  only  yielded 
six  gallons  in  the  most  plentiful  year,  and  it 
was  formerly  sold  for  double  its  weight  in  silver. 
It  is  still  estee.med  very  precious,  and  is  rarely 
to  be  procured  genuine,  that  which  is  collected 
being  hardly  sufficient  for  the  seraglio  and  great 
officers.  It  is  said  to  be  exceedingly  fragrant. 

Myrrh  is  a  product  of  a  plant  of  the  same 
genus,  (Balsamodendron  myrrha,)  a  tree  which 
grows  in  considerable  quantity  on  the  borders 
of  Arabia  Felix.  The  myrrh  of  Scripture  is, 
however,  not  perhaps  identical  with  the  gum 
we  call  by  that  name,  but  probably  is  the  same 
as  the  balsam  of  Mecca,  or  the  kataf  of  the 


100       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

Arabians.  Tamarisks  abound  in  the  deserts  of 
Arabia,  and,  with  their  pretty  spikes  of  small 
pink  flowers,  enliven  the  gloom  of  those  barren 
wastes.  One  species  of  tamarisk  (T.  Gallica) 
is  commonly  cultivated  in  many  of  our  gardens, 
•  especially  on  the  coast,  and  gives  a  good  idea 
of  the  character  of  the  genus.  Two  species 
(Tamarix  orientalis  and  T.  passcrinoides)  grow 
in  Arabia  ;  the  former  is  probably  the  plant 
mentioned  in  Jer.  xvii.  6,  "  For  he  shall  be 
like  the  heath  in  the  desert,  and  shall  not  see 
when  good  cometh ;  but  shall  inhabit  the 
parched  places  in  the  wilderness,  in  a  salt  land 
and  not  inhabited."  Its  spare  and  neglected 
form  peering  above  the  sand  of  the  desert, 
might  well  be  taken  as  an  emblem  of  desertion 
and  solitude. 

One  of  the  most  cherished  plants  of 
Arabia  is  the.  henna,  (Lawsonia  mermis,)  a 
plant  of  the  loosestrife  tribe,  which  is  in 
universal  estimation  for  its  beauty  and  sweet 
perfume.  It  is  a  native  of  India,  Arabia,  Per- 
sia, Egypt,  and  Greece,  and  is  not  only  found 
wild,  but  is  universally  cultivated.  Mohammed, 
speaking  of  this  flower,  called  it  "  the  chief  of 
the  sweet-scented  flowers  of  this  world  and  the 
next."  Mr.  Lane  says,  "  I  approve  of  his  taste 
for  this  flower,  which  grows  in  clusters,  some- 
what like  the  lilac,  and  has  most  delicious  fra- 
grance." The  light  green  foliage,  the  yellowish 
white  flowers,  and  the  coral-red  flower-stalks, 
give  an  elegant  appearance  to  the  shrub.  It  is 
supposed  to  be  the  plant  alluded  to  in  Solomon's 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  101 

Song  i.  14,  "A  cluster  of  camphire  in  the  vine- 
yards of  En-gedi,"  which  corresponds  to  the 
beautiful  long  clusters  of  flowers  of  the  henna, 
but  by  no  means  to  what  we  caU  camphor.  It. 
is  also  alluded  to  again,  in  V;i»*  L-arie  bcol:, 
chap.  iv.  13, 14,  "  Pomegranates,  with  pleasant, 
fruits;  camphire,  with .  p.p)k»Hiai\y  .spikcuaivl 
and  saffron';  calamus  and  cinnamon,  with!  all 
trees  of  frankincense  ;  myrrh  and  aloes,  with 
all  the  chief  spices  ;"  and  these  are  all  still 
highly  esteemed  in  the  east. 

Its  blossoms  form  the  favourite  bouquet  of 
the  Grecian  females,  who  delight  peculiarly  in 
flowers,  and  wear  them  in  profusion  about  their 
persons.  The  oriental  ladies  also  deck  their 
sofas  and  adorn  their  houses  with  the  rich 
blossoms  of  the  henna ;  and  the  Egyptian 
females  carry  them  in  their  hands  and  place 
them  in  their  bosoms,  as  well  as  keep  them  in 
their  apartments.  The  aged  Mohammedan 
frequently  perfumes  his  beard,  by  holding  his 
face  over  the  vapour  arising  from. a  preparation 
of  these  sweet  flowers.  This  reminds  us  of  the 
perfume  which,  poured  upon  Aaron's  beard, 
was,  in  its  sweetness,  compared  by  the  psalmist 
to  the  delights  of  fraternal  affection.  In  Egypt, 
the  henna  flowers  are  carried  about  the  streets 
for  sale,  and  the  seller,  as  he  walks,  cries,  "  Oh, 
the  odours  of  paradise  :  oh,  flowers  of  the 
henna."  The  rose,  which  is  esteemed  the 
queen  of  flowers,  is  even  considered  by  the 
orientals  inferior  to  the  henna.  The  dried 
leaves  of  the  plant  are  used  bv  eastern  females 
9* 


102       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

to  impart  a  pink  dye  to  their  nails,  palms  of 
their  hands,  and  soles  of  their  feet,  and  this  is 
considered  a  great  ornament. 

Delicious,  as  is  the  perfume  of  the  henna, 
'  Miiother  Arabian,  plant,  of  much  less  outward 
pretensions,  has  been  far  more  extensively 
beneficial' ia  its  utility,  to  man;  this  is  the 
coffee  shrub,  a  native  of  Arabia  Felix,  and  the 
table-land  of  Ethiopia.  It  derives  its  name 
from  the  province  of  Kaffa,  where  it  forms 
dense  forests.  The  plant  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  known  to  the  Greeks  and  Eomans,  nor 
are  there  any  facts  known  as  to  the  origin  of 
its  use  in  the  east.  The  coffee  plant  was 
brought  from  Mocha  to  the  Botanic  Garden 
at  Amsterdam,  in  1690  ;  and  the  magistrates  of 
that,  city,  in  1714,  sent  a  plant  of  i&as  a  pre- 
sent to  Louis  xiv.  From  this  latter  plant  the 
first  coffee  plants  were  introduced  into  the 
West  Indies,"  in  1717,  where  it  has  rapidly 
spread,  and  is  now  extensively  cultivated  in 
Jamaica,  Demerara,  etc.  In  1718,  it  was  in- 
troduced by  the  Dutch  into  Surinam,  from 
whence  it  was  quickly  diffused  over  equinoctial 
America.  It  was  not  known  as  an  article  of 
diet  for  many  centuries  after  the  introduction 
of  sugar.  The  first  coffee-house  was  opened 
in  England  in  1652,  and  the  first  in  France  in 
1671.  That  in  England  was  commenced  by 
the  Greek  servant  of  Daniel  Edwards,  a  Turk- 
ish merchant  ;  his  handbill  is  still  extant,  in 
which  he  announces  "  the  virtue  of  the  coffee 
drink  first  publiquely  made  and  sold  in  Eng- 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  103 

land  by  Pasqua  Kosee,  in  St.  Michael's  Alley, 
Cornhill,  at  the  sign  of  his  own  head." 

When  it  is  considered  that  it  was  made 
strong,  and  drunk  without  sugar  or  milk,  it 
may  be  believed  that  it  was  not  much  liked  ; 
one  person  describing  it  as  being  as  black 
as  soot,  and  tasting  not  much  unlike  it.  For 
twenty  years  after  its  introduction  it  was  the 
subject  of  general  invective,  both  as  to  medi- 
cinal and  domestic  use.  When  first  intro- 
duced into  Turkey,  it  was  forbidden  by  the 
government  on  the  ground  of  its  being  an 
intoxicating  beverage !  and  the  Mohammedan 
priests  complained  that  the  people  forsook  the 
mosques,  and  crowded  to  the  coffee-houses. 
Now,  however,  it  has  long  been  a  necessary  of 
life  in  that  country  ;  so  that  at  one  time  the 
refusal  of  a  husband  to  supply  his  wife  with  a 
reasonable  quantity  of  it,  was  reckoned  among 
the  legal  causes  for  a  divorce.  When  first 
introduced  into  England  it  was  worth  four  or 
five  guineas  per  pound  ;  but,  by  degrees,  the 
consumption  increased,  till,  in  1808,  1,000,000 
pounds  were  ^mported,  the  duty  being  then 
two  shillings  per  pound.  In  1824,  the  duty 
was  lowered  to  sixpence,  when  it  increased 
rapidly  ;  in  1839,  it  had  reached  27,000,000 
pounds,  and  in  1848,  57,061,431  pounds  were 
imported.  The  best  coffee  is  still  imported 
from  Mocha,  in  Arabia,  but  very  large  quanti- 
ties are  brought  from  the  West  Indies,  Java, 
and  Ceylon. 

Between  the  desert  of  Arabia  and  the  Medi- 


104       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  FLANTS. 

terraneau  is  the  Land  of  Promise — a  land,  aa 
Moses  described  it,  "  of  wheat,  and  barley, 
and  vines,  and  fig  trees,  and  pomegranates  ; 
a  land  of  oil  olive,  and  honey,"  Deut.  viii.  8. 
And  such  it  still  is  proved  to  be,  wherever 
the  inhabitants,  rescued  from  oppression  the 
most  grinding,  are  permitted  to  cultivate  their 
lands  with  any  fair  prospect  of  reaping  in 
peace  the  fruit  of  their  labours.  Palms,  corn, 
pomegranates,  figs,  cedars,  the  olive,  and  a 
great  variety  of  interesting  plants,  characterise 
this  country  ;  but  we  must  notice  them  a 
little  more  in  detail.  Two  of  the  palms  are 
found  in  Palestine,  and  were  known  to  the 
Jews — the  doum  palm,  (Crucifera  thebaica^)  and 
the  date  palm,  (Plicenix  dactylifera.)  The 
doum  palm  is  remarkable  for  its  forked 
stem,  which  is  divided  into  two  at  some  height 
from  the  ground,  and  these  branches  again 
subdivide  in  a  similar  manner.  It  abounds 
also  in  Egypt,  where  it  is  called  the  ginger- 
bread tree,  from  the  extreme  resemblance  of 
its  brown  mealy  rind  to  that  article.  Its  hard 
kernels  are  turned  for  rosaries.  • 

But  the  palm,  by  way  of  eminence,  is  the 
date  palm.  It  is  to  this  probably  that  the 
numerous  allusions  in  Scripture  refer.  This 
palm  belongs  to  the  western  part  of  the  sub- 
tropical zone  in  the  old  world,  beginning  at  the 
Canary  Isles,  and  embracing  Egypt,  Palestine, 
Syria,  and  Arabia,  in  its  eastern  range.  It  is 
not  found  spontaneously  east  of  the  Indus.  It 
has  been  artificially  cultivated  in  India  and' 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE,  105 

Batavia,  and  as  far  north  as  Nice.  That  part 
of  Africa  called  Billedulgerid  is  literally  the 
land  of  dates.  It  requires  a  sandy  and  well 
watered  soil,  and  in  the  Great  Desert  of  Africa 
is  only  found  near  springs.  Here  it  not  only 
affords  food  to  the  traveller,  but  its  leaves 
are  excellent  fodder  for  the  blasts  of  burden. 
Its  presence  is  an  unerring  sign  of  water ; 
hence,  the  weary  Israelites  found  water  when 
they  found  palm  trees — "  And  they  came  to 
Elim,  where  were  twelve  wells  of  water,  and 
threescore  and  ten  palm  trees,"  Exod.  xv.  27. 
The  date  palm  is  an  example  of  extraordi- 
nary fruitfulness,  a  single  spathe  containing 
twelve  thousand  male  flowers  ;  and  its  fruit, 
of  which  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  pounds'  weight  are  yielded 
by  each  tree,  forms  the  chief  support  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  barren  parts  of  Arabia  and 
Egypt. 

The  palm  reaches  maturity  in  about  thirty 
years,  and  continues  in  full  vigour  about 
seventy  years  longer.  It  is  beautifully  applied 
in  Psa.  xcii.  12,  14,  "  The  righteous  shall 
flourish  like  the  palm  tree  :  he  shall  grow  like 
a  cedar  in  Lebanon.  They  shall  still  bring 
forth  fruit  in  old  age  ;  they  shall  be  fat  and 
flourishing."  It  is  dioecious,  that  is,  the  sta- 
men-bearing flowers,  (males,)  and  those  con- 
taining pistils,  (females,)  grow  on  different 
plants.  Plants  of  this  kind  are  usually  fer- 
tilized by  the  pollen  being  conveyed  from  one 
flower  to  the  other  by  insects,  the  wind,  etc. 


106       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

In  the  date  palm,  however,  these  means  often 
fail,  and  if  unseasonable  weather  or  accident 
prevent  it,  the  date  crops  are  entirely  ruined. 
To  prevent  this,  the  Arabs,  who  have  been 
acquainted  with  these  facts  for  ages,  gather  the 
clusters  of  male  flowers,  and  hang  them  over 
the  pistilline  ones,  and  they  even  lay  up  stores 
of  pollen  from  year  to  year.  In  incursions  into 
hostile  territories,  the  invading  army  often  cuts 
down  the  stamen -bearing  palms,  as  one  of  the 
most  severe  injuries  they  can  inflict  upon  their 
enemy.  It  is  on  record,  that  the  threat  of  doing 
so,  on  the  part  of  those  attacked,  once  warded  off 
an  invasion.  The  grand  seignior  having  medi- 
tated an  invasion  of  the  city  and  territory  of 
Bassora,  the  prince  of  that  country  prevented 
it,  by  giving  out  that  he  would  destroy  all 
these  palms  on  the  first  approach  of  the  enemy, 
and  by  that  means  cut  off  all  supply  of  food 
from  them  during  the  siege.  Most  of  the  in- 
habitants of  Persia,  Arabia,  and  Egypt,  subsist 
principally  upon  its  fruit.  The  harvest  of 
dates  is  expected,  therefore,  and  attended  with 
as  general  rejoicing  as  the  vintage  of  the  south 
of  Europe.  The  crop  sometimes  fails,  or  is 
destroyed  by  locusts,  and  then  an  universal 
gloom  overspreads  the  population.  "  What  is 
the  price  of  dates  at  Mecca  or  Medina?"  is 
always  the  first  question  asked  by  a  Bedouin 
who  meets  a  traveller  on  the  road. 

That  the  date  palm  was  anciently  very  plen- 
tiful in  Palestine  we  have  abundant  proof ; 
ancient  writers  bear  testimony  to  it,  and  on  the 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  107 

medals  of  no  less  than  four  Koman  emperors, 
Vespasian,  Titus,  Doinitian,  and  Trajan,  it  is 
employed  as  an  emblem  of  the  Hebrew  nation, 
or  portions  of  it ;  and  the  palm  tree  in  Judsea 
does  still  mournfully  typify  the  desolate  condi- 
tion of  the  Hebrew  people.  It  was  prosper- 
ous in  their  prosperous  days,  and  has  become 
desolate  with  their  desolation.  Palestine  is 
not  now  the  country  of  the  palm ;  Jericho, 
anciently  called  "  the  city  of  palm  trees,"  has 
but  few  comparatively  around  it ;  and  scattered 
over  the  land,  two  or  three  palm  trees  are 
rarely  seen  together.  Branches  of  the  palm 
were  anciently  used  as  symbols  of  victory  and 
triumph,  both  among  Jews  and  Gentiles.  Thus, 
when  our  Lord  rode  in  triumph  into  Jeru- 
salem, the  people  "  took  branches  of  palm  trees? 
and  went  forth  to  meet  him,  and  cried,  Ho- 
sanna!"  etc.,  John  xii.  13.  So,  also,  the 
redeemed  in  heaven,  in  token  of  their  ascrib- 
ing victory  to  Him  who  conquered  sin  and 
death,  are  represented  as  standing  "  before  the 
Lamb,  clothed  with  white  robes  and  palms  in 
their  hands." 

But  we  must  hasten  to  notice  some  others. 
The  fields  of  Palestine  are  often  studded  in  the 
autumn  with  the  Amaryllis  lutea,  a  beautiful 
plant  of  the  lily  tribe,  resembling  our  crocus, 
but  larger.  It  sometimes  covers  whole  acres  of 
ground  with  its  brilliant  flowers  in  September 
and  October,  and  is  supposed  to  be  the  plant 
alluded  to  by  our  Saviour,  when  he  bade  his 
disciples  "  consider  the  lilies  of  the  field,  how 


108       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

they  grow ;  they  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin  : 
and  yet  I  say  unto  you,  That  even  Solomon 
in  all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one 
of  these,"  Matt.  vi.  28,  29.  Many  -other 
liliaceous  plants,  of  varied  form  and  beautiful 
colours,  adorn  the  plains  of  Palestine  and 
other  tropical  countries,  often  abundant  as  the 
buttercups  and  wild  flowers  of  the  meadows  of 
our  native  land.  A  singular  plant,  called  the 
rose  of  Jericho,  (Anastatica  hierochuntina,)  a 
plant  of  the  cruciform  order,  is  a  native  of 
Palestine,  Syria,  and  Arabia.  When  full- 
grown  it  contracts  its  rigid  branches  into  a  ball, 
which  is  easily  withdrawn  from  the  sand  by 
the  wind,  and  hurried  from  place  to  place. 
But  as  soon  as  it  is  exposed  to  water  the 
branches  relax  and  spread  flat,  as  if  its  life  were 
renewed,  and  this  will  take  place  after  the 
plant  has  been  many  years  dried  up.  Some 
superstitious  tales  are  told  of  it,  among  which 
it  is  said  to  have  bloomed  on  Christmas-eve,  to 
salute  the  birth  of  the  Redeemer,  and  to  have 
paid  homage  to  his  resurrection  by  remaining 
expanded  till  Easter. 

The  cedar  of  Lebanon  is  peculiar  to  Pales- 
tine, having  been  found  nowhere  but  on  the 
mountain  whose  name  it  bears.  The  cedars 
are  now  but  few  in  number.  It  is,  however, 
generally  considered  that  the  "  cedar"  so  often 
mentioned  in  Scripture,  was  not  the  tree  we 
now  understand  by  that  name,  as  its  timber  is 
comparatively  valueless,  and  has  but  little 
fragrance.  It  was,  doubtless,  some  coniferous 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  109 

tree,  most  probably  the  Juniperus  oxyeedrus; 
Theophrastus  describes  a  species  of  jumper  as 
bearing  the  name  of  "  cedar,"  being  peculiar 
to  Syria  and  Phoenicia,  and  used  for  nauti- 
cal purposes,  thus  agreeing  with  Ezek.  xxvii. 
5,  "  They  have  taken  cedars  from  Lebanon  to 
make  masts  for  thee."  Various  trees  of  this 
kind  inhabit  Palestine,  some  of  which  afford 
excellent  timber  ;  among  others,  the  Scotch  fir,, 
(Pinus  sylvestris,)  and  it  is  believed  Pinus  la- 
ricio,  P.  halepensis,  and  P.  orientalis  also. 

Another  remarkable  tree  is  the  olive,  which' 
gives  its  name  to  Mount  Olivet.  It  is  truly  an 
interesting  and  curious  fact,  that  during  a 
period  of  little  less  than  three  thousand  years, 
Hebrews,  Assyrians,  Eomans,  Moslems,  and 
Christians,  have  been  successively  in  posses- 
sion of  the  rocky  mountains  of  Palestine  ; 
yet  the  olive  still  vindicates  its  paternal  soil, 
and  it  is  found  at  this  day  upon  the  same 
spot  which  was  called  by  the  Hebrew  writers 
the  Mount  of  Olives,  1100  years  before  the 
Christian  era.  The  wood  of  the  olive  is  beau- 
tifully veined,  it  takes  a  high  polish,  and 
having  an  agreeable  smell,  is  much  esteemed 
for  ornamental  work.  The  appearance  of  the 
tree  is  not  unlike  that  of  our  willcws,  but  the 
fruit,  which  is  its  chief  value,  is  like  a  damson 
to  the  eye,  with  a  soft  oily  pulp,  and  a  hard 
stone  in  the  centre.  From  this  fruit  the  oil  is 
procured  by  expression,  the  pulp  having  been 
first  ground  in  a  mill.  The  best  oil  is  obtained 
from  Italy,  Sicily,  and  Provence,  and  throughout 
10 


110  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

1;he  southern  countries  of  Europe  it  is  very  exten- 
sively used,  being  employed  as  generally  arid  in 
the  same  way  as  butter  and  cream  are  with  us. 
The  quantity  imported  into  this  country  in 
1848  was  2,518,740  gallons. 

There  was  anciently  an  enormous  consump- 
tion of  it  in  Palestine  ;  it  was  used,  doubt- 
less, as  it  still  is  in  southern  Europe  ;  it  was 
also  used  in  the  temple  for  the  lamps,  which 
were  kept  burning  continually,  (Exod.  xxvii. 
20.)  Great,  however,  as  was  the  consumption, 
the  produce  was  so  abundant  as  to  leave  a  con- 
siderable quantity  for  exportation.  Solomon 
gave  20,000  baths  (150,000  gallons)  of  oil 
yearly  to  the  Tyrian  hewers  of  timber  in 
Lebanon,  (2  Chron.  ii.  10,)  and,  as  it  would 
appear,  an  equal  quantity  to  the  king  of  Tyre 
himself,  (1  Kings  v.  11.)  It  appears,  too, 
that  the  Jews  traded  with  their  oil  in  the  great 
mart  of  Tyre,  (Ezek.  xxvii.  17,)  and  sent  it  to 
Egypt,  (Hosea  xii.  6.)  To  this  day,  the  olives 
and  olive  oil  of  Palestine  are  equal  to  any  in 
the  Levant.  Branches  of  the  olive  tree  were 
used  as  one  of  the  materials  of  the  booths  at 
the  feast  of  tabernacles,  (Neh.  viii.  15;)  and 
an  olive  branch  has  long  been  considered  the 
symbol  of  peace.  The  dove  which  Noah  sent 
forth  on  the  abating  of  the  waters  of  the  deluge, 
returned  with  an  olive  leaf  plucked  off;  the 
hardiness  and  tenacity  of  life  of  this  tree,  pro- 
bably enabling  it  to  withstand  so  long  an 
immersion  in  the  waters  of  the  flood.  The 
olive  is  now  cultivated  and  naturalized  over 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  Ill 

all  the  south  of  Europe,  but  it  appears  to  have 
originally  come  from  Asia,  and  grows  wild 
abundantly  about  Aleppo  and  Lebanon.  Its 
longevity  is  great.  Some  plantations  of  it  in  Italy, 
as  at  Terne,  are  supposed  to  have  existed  from 
the  time  of  Pliny  ;  and  in  Judaea  and  Galilee, 
clumps  of  several  thousand  olive  trees  fre- 
quently occur,  which  are,  doubtless,  the  re- 
mains of  ancient  plantations. 

But  we  must  hasten  to  mention  a  few  other 
plants  of  Palestine.  It  is  an  interesting  coun- 
try in  its  flora,  and  deeply  so  in  its  associations, 
and  this  must  be  our  excuse  for  dwelling  on  it 
so  long.  The  cypress  grows  there,  and  ap- 
pears to  be  the  "gopher  wood"  of  which  the 
ark  was  built,  (Gen.  vi.  14.)  Some  species  of 
acacia  are  also  found  ;  the  wood  of  one  of  which, 
(Acacia  horrida,)  a  thorny  tree,  seems  to  have 
been  the  "shittim"  wood  used  in  constructing 
the  ark  of  the  testimony,  the  altar  of  burnt 
offering,  the  boards  of  the  tabernacles,  etc., 
(Exod.  xxv. — xxvii.)  and  deserves  the  name 
given  to  it  by  the  Greek  translators,  meaning 
"  wood  that  never  decays."  The  pomegranate  is, 
and  was,  very  common  in  Palestine  and  Syria. 
It  was  one  of  the  productions  which  Moses 
especially  distinguished  in  his  address  to  the 
Israelites,  as  characterising  the  rich  fertility  of 
the  land.  The  fruit  was  also  one  of  the  three 
kinds  which  the  spies  brought  as  favourable 
specimens  of  the  produce  of  the  country.  The 
flowers  and  fruit  are  both  very  beautiful ;  the 
latter  is  about  the  size  of  an  orange,  very  jwicy, 


J  12       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

and  of  an  agreeable  acid  taste.  It  is  still  very 
highly  esteemed ;  it  is  eaten  fresh,  and  its 
juice  is  used  as  an  ingredient  in  the  favourite 
and  delicious  sherbets  of  which  the  orientals 
are  so  fond.  It  is  repeatedly  alluded  to  in 
Scripture.  It  is  specified  by  the  Israelites 
while  murmuring  at  Moses,  as  one  of  the  great- 
est luxuries  they  enjoyed  in  Egypt,  (Num. 
xx.  5.)  In  Solomon's  Song  it  is  mentioned  as 
one  of  the  most  valued  plants,  (chap.  iv.  13  ;) 
and  imitations  of  the  fruit  were  among  the 
chief  ornaments  of  the  temple. 

The  oak  (Quercus  robur)  is  frequently  found 
in  Palestine,  but  the  tree  mentioned  in  Scrip- 
ture under  that  name  is  generally  considered 
to  be  the  terebinth  tree,  (Pistachia  terebinthua.) 
It  yields  a  resinous  substance,  as  do  several 
allied  species.  The  produce  of  the  terebinth 
is  called  scio,  or  Cyprus  turpentine ;  gum 
mastic  is  the  produce  of  Pistachio,  lentiscus ; 
and  the  pistachio  nuts  are  the  fruit  of  P.  vera. 
It  was  under  a  terebinth  tree  that  Abraham 
entertained  the  angels,  (Gen.  xviiL;)  and  under 
a  similar  one  in  Shechem  Jacob  buried  the 
idols  brought  by  his  people  from  Mesopo- 
tamia, (Gen.  xxxv.  4.)  It  abounds  near  Jeru- 
salem. 

The  carob  tree  (Oeratonia  siliqua)  is  plentiful 
in  Palestine,  as  also  throughout  the  south  01 
Europe.  It  is  a  tree  from  thirty  to  fifty  feet  high, 
with  small  bunches  of  red  flowers,  and  is  cul- 
tivated for  the  sake  of  its  pods,  which  contain 
a  dry  pulp,  in  which  the  seeds  are  imbedded. 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  113 

This  pulp  is  very  nutritious,  and  is  supposed  by 
some  tc  have  been  the  food  of  John  the  Bap- 
tist in  the  wilderness,  whence  it  is  called 
"  Locust  tree,"  and  "  St.  John's  bread."  It  is 
also  supposed  to  be  the  "  husks  that  the  swine 
did  eat,"  spoken  of  in  the  parable  of  the 
prodigal  son,  (Luke  xv.  16.)  It  is  still  used 
in  Palestine  for  feeding  swine,  and  in  Spain  for 
hordes. 

But  we  must  not  leave  Palestine  without 
noticing  the  myrtle,  which  is  so  often  found 
in  the  vales  among  the  "eternal  hills,"  where 
all  is  so  calm  and  tranquil,  that,  says  Dr.  Kitto, 
it  naturally  becomes  associated  in  the  mind 
with  everything  that  is  lovely  and  peaceful.  It 
offered  a  choice  emblem  of  peace  and  quietude, 
and  gave  a  lively  freshness  to  the  annuncia- 
tion of  the  angel,  as  he  stood  among  the 
myrtle  trees,  "  We  have  walked  to  and  fro 
through  the  earth,  and  behold,  all  the  earth 
sitteth  still,  and  is  at  rest,"  (Zech.  i.  11.) 
One  variety  is  called  the  Jews'  myrtle,  and  has 
its  leaves  in  threes  at  each  joint.  It  is  still  in 
much  request  among  them,  and  yearly  do  they 
observe  the  feast  of  tabernacles,  though  they 
cannot  do  it  as  once  they  did,  when  Ezra 
exhorted  them,  in  conformity  with  the  Mosaic 
ritual,  to  "  go  forth  unto  the  mount,  and  fetch 
olive  branches,  and  pine  branches,  and  myrtle 
branches,  and  palm  branches,  and  branches  of 
thick  trees,  to  make  booths,  as  it  is  written," 
Neh.  viii..  15.  The  myrtle  here  referred  to 
is  the  common  myrtle,  which  was  then,  and  is 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

still,  very  abundant  in  Judaea."  The  beauty, 
loveliness,  and  fragrance  of  the  myrtle,  are 
striking  emblems  of  the  moral  paradise  which 
is  destined  to  be  produced,  when  the  gospel 
shall  be  universally  diffused  and  obeyed,  and 
of  the  dispositions  it  implants  in  the  hearts  of 
those  who  yield  to  its  influence.  "  I  will  plant 
in  the  wilderness  the  cedar,  the  shittah  tree, 
and  the  myrtle,  and  the  oil  tree,"  Isa. 
xli.  19  ;  and  again,  "  Instead  of  the  thorn  shall 
come  up  the  fir  tree,  and  instead  of  the  brier 
shall  come  up  the  myrtle  tree  :  and  it  shall  be 
to  the  Lord  for  a  name,  for  an  everlasting 
sign  that  shall  not  be  cut  off,"  Isaiah  Iv.  13. 
Among  the  Arabs  the  myrtle  is  considered  to 
rival  the  violet ;  and  they  have  a  tradition 
that  "  Adam  fell  down  from  paradise  with 
three  things — the  myrtle,  which  is  the  chief  of 
sweet-scented  -  flowers  in  this  world  ;  an  ear  of 
wheat,  which  is  the  chief  of  all  kinds  of 
food  in  this  world  ;  and  pressed  dates,  which 
are  the  chief  of  the  fruits  of  this  world." 

India  possesses  a  very  rich  flora,  but  the 
names  of  many  of  the  plants  would  possess  but 
little  interest  for  those  who  are  unacquainted 
with  botany.  Figs,  particularly  those  of  the 
banyan  kind,  which  have  already  been  noticed, 
form  one  of  the  most  striking  features  of 
its  vegetation.  The  balsam  of  our  green- 
houses, and  the  kidney-bean,  we  have  re- 
ceived from  India.  The  teak  tree  (or  Indian 
oak)  also  abounds  in  India.  Its  wood  is  use3 
in  ship-building,  and  is  so  durable,  that  In- 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  115 

dian-built  ships,  constructed  of  this  wood,  often 
last  forty  years  or  more  in  those  seas,  where 
our  ships  are  ruined  in  five  years.  The  mango 
(Mangifera  Indica)  produces  a  fruit  as  highly 
valued  in  those  warm  climates  as  the  peach  is 
in  England.  The  Palma  Christi,  or  castor  oil 
plant,  (Eidnus  communis)  is  cultivated  exten- 
sively in  the  East  Indies,  United  States,  and 
West  Indies,  for  the  sake  of  the  oil  obtained 
from  its  seeds,  (castor  oil,)  which  is  so  largely 
used  in  medicine.  It  attains  in  its  native 
climate  the  height  of  a  tree,  though  in  this 
country  it  can  only  be  grown  as  an  annual, 
three  or  four  feet  high.  It  is  of  very  rapid 
growth,  and  is  now  generally  supposed  to  be 
the  plant  which  our  translators  have  rendered 
"  a  gourd,"  which  "  came  up  in  a  night,  and 
perished  in  a  night,"  for  the  comfort  and  the 
instruction  of  Jonah  ;  though  so  rapid  a  growth 
as  this  must  have  been  miraculous.  The 
fathers,  Jerome  and  Augustine,  differed  so  much 
as  to  the  particular  plant  intended  by  this 
gourd,  that  we  are  told  from  words  they  pro- 
ceeded to  blows. 

Some  of  the  grasses  of  India  are  very  fra- 
grant. One  (Andropogon  sclicenantlms)  is  called 
the  lemon  grass,  and  yields  a  perfume  very 
much  like  the  lemon  plant,  or  verbena,  (Aloysia 
titriodora,)  which  is  so  often  cultivated  in  our 
gardens  and  cottage  windows.  The  essential 
oil  distilled  from  it  is  imported  into  this  coun- 
try, and  used  in  perfumery.  Another  species 
of  the  same  genus  (Andropogon  calamus  aro- 


116       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

maticus)  is  considered  to  be  identical  with 
the  calamus  of  Dioscorides,  and  also  .with 
the  "  sweet  calamus,"  which  was  one  of  the 
ingredients  in  the  "  holy  anointing  oil  of  the 
sanctuary,"  Exod.  xxx.  23.  The  same  plant 
is  mentioned  in  Isa.  xliii.  24,  "  Thou  hast 
bought  me  no  sweet  cane  with  money," 
alluding  to  its  use  in  the  temple  service  ; 
and  again,  in  Jer.  vi.  20,  "  To  what  pur- 
pose cometh  there  to  me  incense  from  Sheba, 
and  the  sweet  cane  from  a  far  country?" 
This  plant,  and  another  allied  species,  (An- 
dropogon  Iwarancusa^)  cover  the  extensive 
arid  plains  of  central  India.  The  oil  is  con- 
sidered very  precious  by  the  natives,  who 
use  it  as  a  valuable  external  remedy  ;  and  an 
infusion  of  the  plant  is  considered  a  powerful 
medicine  in  all  kinds  of  fever.  The  oil  is  ob- 
tained by  distillation,  from  the  flowering  spikes, 
but  at  the  season  and  in  the  places  where  the 
plant  grows,  the  jungle  fever  is  so  very  preva- 
lent, that  the  health  and  lives  of  those  who  col- 
lect it  are  in  great  danger,  and,  in  consequence, 
the  oil  bears  a  very  high  price.  The  greater 
part  of  the  oil  produced  is  sent  now,  as  in 
ancient  times,  as  an  article  of  commerce  to 
Arabia.  The  oil  is  so  highly  fragrant,  that 
insects  will  not  approach  it,  and  the  odour  of 
the  plant  itself  is  so  powerful,  that  though 
camels  will  eat  almost  any  vegetable,  yet  they 
will  not  browse  on  this. 

The  spikenard  of  the  ancients  has  been  con- 
sidered by  some  to  have  been  this  plant ;  the 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  117 

oil  of  which  was  thought  to  be  the  "  ointment 
(more  properly  "  attar,"  or  essential  oil)  of 
spikenard,  very  costly,''  mentioned  in  Mark 
xiv.  3  ;  but  the  researches  of  sir  William  Jones 
seem  to  show,  that  a  plant  of  the  valerian 
tribe,  (Nardostacliys  Jatamansi^)  called  by  the 
natives  "  Jatamansi,"  and  by  the  Arabians  "  surn- 
bul,"  was  the  true  spikenard.  It  grows  plen- 
tifully all  along  the  Himalayan  Mountains,  in 
Nipaul,  Bengal,  Delhi,  Deccan,  etc.,  and  is  not 
very  unlike  in  appearance  some  of  the  small 
"  forget-me-nots  "  of  our  native  land.  Its  attar,  or 
essential  oil,  forms  a  principal  ingredient  in  the 
rich  essences  and  perfumes  of  the  Hindoos,  of 
which  the  orientals  are  proverbially  fond.  They 
anoint  their  persons  and  perfume  their  clothes 
with  them.  Various  kinds  of  these  essences 
were  articles  of  commerce  in  very  ancient 
times,  such  as  those  of  roses,  cetaca,  or  panda- 
nus.  aguru,  or  aloes-wood,  etc.  ;  being  imported 
by  the  Arabians  from  India,  and  by  them 
carried  to  Rome,  Greece,  Judaea,  etc.,  where 
they  bore  very  high  prices  ;  the  small  box  (or 
rather  flask)  of  spikenard,  mentioned  above, 
being  worth  more  than  £9.  75.  Qd.  of  our 
money.  The  spikenard  (Jatamansi)  is  still 
highly  esteemed  in  India,  and  is  annually 
brought  down  from  the  Himalayas  in  large 
quantities. 

One  of  the  most  valuable  productions  of 
India  is  the  cotton,  of  which  at  least  five  or  six 
species  are  natives  of  India,  yielding  cotton  of 
various  degrees  of  value.  Of  all  these,  how- 


118  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

ever,  Gossypium  herbacoum,  is  the  most  gene- 
rally cultivated  throughout  the  world.  It  is  a 
native  of  India,  Africa,  and  Syria,  but  is 
extensively  cultivated  in  India,  Asia  Minor, 
Egypt,  Syria,  Greece,  Sicily,  Italy,  Malta,  the 
south  of  Spain,  North  America,  etc.  Some 
other  species  are  cultivated  in  particular  places, 
as  Gossypium  Nanking,  in  China  and  the  South 
Sea  Islands,  from  which  the  fabric  called 
"  Nankeen  "  is  made.  Gossypium  religiosum  is 
cultivated  in  Sicily  and  Greece  ;  G.  vitifolium, 
around  Cairo,  at  Rio  Janeiro,  and  the  West 
Indies  ;  and  G.  Barladense,  in  Barbadoes,  and 
generally  throughout  the  West  Indies.  Cotton 
succeeds  in  those  countries  Avhose  mean  tempe- 
rature is  between  61°  and  68°  Fahr.  In  some 
places,  as  in  the  Crimea,  it  ascends  to  45°  N.  lat. ; 
in  Asia,  even  to  Astrakhan  ;  in  North  America, 
as  far  as  40°-  N.  lat.  ;  in  South  America  to  30° 
s.  lat.  on  the  eastern  coast,  and  even  as  far  as 
33°  on  the  western.  The  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
and  Australia  are  the  most  southerly  stations 
for  it.  In  China  and  Japan,  cotton  culture  is 
in  a  flourishing  condition,  but  tlie  supply  is 
not  equal  to  the  demand,  and  immense  quan- 
tities are  exported  from  the  East  Indies  to 
China. 

The  cotton  plants  are  sown  in  March,  and 
when  finally  thinned,  they  are  left  at  from  three 
to  six  feet  distance  from  each  other.  They 
will  last  twelve,  fifteen,  or  even  twenty  years, 
and  in  many  countries  produce  two  crops  every 
year.  In  some  places,  however,  the  cotton  is 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  119 

treated  as  an  annual.  The  best  plants  yield 
about  two  and,  a  half  pounds  of  clean  cotton, 
the  weakest  only  about  five  ounces.  They  re- 
quire to  be  kept  free  from  weeds,  especially 
from  the  species  of  convolvulus,  or  ipomsea, 
which  would  speedily  choke  them,  and,  espe- 
cially in  Brazil,  are  very  luxuriant.  The  col- 
lecting of  the  ripe  cotton  capsules  is  a  very 
laborious  work,  and  requires  a  great  many 
hands  in  a  large  plantation  ;  the  harvest  lasts 
for  several  weeks.  The  greatest  difficulty  is  the 
separation  of  the  cotton  from  the  seeds  ;  in 
America  this  is  effected  very  completely  and 
expeditiously  by  machinery,  but  in  India  by 
hand.  Cotton  appears  to  have  been  known  to 
the  ancients.  Herodotus  mentions  cotton  gar- 
ments 445  years  before  the  Christian  era,  and 
the  Mexicans  manufactured  cotton  cloth  prior  to 
the  discovery  of  America.  Its  importation  into 
Great  Britain  has  increased  with  extraordinary 
rapidity  of  late  years,  and  to  an  extent  almost 
unexampled  in  the  history  of  commerce.  In 
the  seventeenth  century,  the  trifling  supply  re- 
quired was  obtained  wholly  from  Smyrna  and 
Cyprus.  In  the  year  1786,  about  20,000,000 
pounds  were  imported.  In  1838,  the  quantity 
was  upwards  of  500,000,000  pounds  ;  and  in 
1848,  the  enormous  quantity  of  712,554,080 
pounds  were  imported  into  this  country  ;  while 
the  quantity  of  cotton  rn^inufactures  exported  in 
the  year  1848,  was  of  the  value  of  £16,770,868  ; 
and  of  cotton  spun  into  yarn,  £5,927,956. 
The  quantity  of  cotton  manufactures,  ex- 


120       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

elusive  of  lace,  patent  net,  sewing -thread, 
stockings,  and  other  cotton  goods  not  entered 
by  the  yard,  included  in  the  above  amount,  for 
1848,  was  upwards  of  1,046,000,000  of  yards, 
which  would  reach  to  the  moon  and  back  again, 
and  then  leave  enough  to  form  a  band  almost 
all  round  the  earth.  These  facts  will  give  some 
faint  idea  of  the  vast  extent  and  importance  of 
this  branch  of  our  manufactures  and  commerce. 
Our  principal  supply  of  cotton  is  from  America 
and  Bengal,  but  the  East  Indies  and  Egypt  also 
contribute  greatly  to  the  importation.  A  large 
portion  of  the  textures  manufactured  from  it  is 
reconveyed  to  the  countries  which  originally 
furnished  it.  When  machinery  was  first  in- 
troduced into  the  cotton  manufacture,  it  was 
made  capable  of  spinning  one  pound  of  cotton 
into  yarn  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles  long, 
arid  a  much  greater  degree  of  fineness  may  now 
be  obtained.  The  hand-spinners  and  weavers 
in  India  far  outdo  machinery  in  the  delicacy  of 
their  fabrics,  some  of  their  muslins  being  ex- 
pressively termed  "  woven  air;"  but  so  great 
is  the  saving  effected  by  machinery  in  the  pro- 
duction of  all  other  kinds  of  cotton  fabrics,  that 
a  large  portion  of  those  used  in  India  are  ex- 
ported from  Britain,  it  being  a  saving  of  ex- 
pense to  cause  the  materials  thus  to  undergo 
the  double  voyage,  though  labour  in  India  is 
so  extremely  cheap.  % 

The  climate  of  the  Himalayan  Mountains,  as, 
for  instance,  about  Delhi,  is  in  summer  quite 
tropical,  so  that  almost  all  the  fruits  of  the 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  121 

equinoctial  zone  can  be  ripened  there  ;  while, 
in  winter,  the  temperature  is  so  low,  that 
often  old  trees  of  the  well-known  tropical  fruits 
perish.  During  the  summer,  which  is  there 
at  the  rainy  season,  there  are  cultivated  in  the 
province  of  Delhi,  rice,  indigo,  cotton,  maize  or 
Indian  corn,  and  some  tropical  kinds  of  grain, 
gourds,  ginger,  turmeric,  etc.  In  the  winter 
season  the  appearance  of  this  district  is  totally 
different,  for  then  the  corn  plants  of  the  north 
are  cultivated,  such  as  wheat,  barley,  oats, 
millet ;  also,  beans,  vetches,  coriander,  carra- 
way,  flax,  etc.  On  the  eastern  side  of  the 
Himalayan  chain,  in  the  sub-tropical  part  of 
China,  and  in  the  south  of  Japan,  some  im- 
portant plants  appear  for  the  first  time.  Here, 
indeed,  some  plants  of  tropical  climes  extend 
much  further  north  than  in  Europe,  especially 
near  the  sea,  as  the  palms,  bananas,  arborescent 
grasses,  etc. 

Several  trees  'of  the  Anacardium  or  cashew 
nut  tribe,  growing  in  Japan,  China,  Burmah, 
and  India,  yield  a  resinous  juice,  which  is  used 
in  those  countries  as  a  varnish,  and  generally 
turns  black.  They  are  dangerous,  however,  to 
use,  as  the  fumes  are  of  so  acrid  a  nature,  as  to 
cause  painful  and  even  dangerous  inflammation 
and  swelling.  Some  constitutions  are  more 
susceptible  of  these  effects  than  others.  The 
valuable  black  hard  varnish,  called  Japan 
lacquer,  is  obtained  from  Stagmaria  verniciflua  ; 
its  resin  is  so  extremely  acrid,  as  to  cause 
excoriations  and  blisters  if  applied  to  the 


122       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

skin  ;  the  people  of  Sumatra  consider  it  dan- 
gerous  to  sit  or  sleep  beneath  the  shade  of  the 
tree.  According  to  Thunberg,  it  is  also  ob- 
tained from  Rims  vernicifera,  -which  yields  a 
very  beautiful  varnish,  which  will  when  dry 
bear  the  heat  of  boiling  water  without  injury, 
but  cracks  and  flies  like  glass  if  struck. 
The  beautiful  Glycine  sinensis,  with  its  myriad 
bunches  of  lovely  blossoms,  resembling  labur- 
nums, except  in  their  rich  lilac  colour — the 
Oka  fragrans,  the  sweet-scented  blossoms  of 
which  are  mixed  with  the  finer  teas  to  give 
them  flavour — the  Thuja  orientalis,  (commonly 
called  lignum  vitce,)  the  Chinese  chrysan- 
themum, which  produces  its  richly  beautiful 
blossoms  of  every  shade  of  red,  yellow,  and 
white,  after  almost  all  our  other  flowers  are 
past — and  the  China,  or  Banksian  roses,  which 
are  so  highly  valued  among  florists,  and  the 
lovers  of  the  garden — are  all  abundant  in  the 
Chinese  provinces. 

Here,  also,  are  the  camphor  laurel,  the 
aucuba,  so  frequent  and  beautiful  an  ornament 
of  our  gardens,  the  magnificent  camellia,  and 
the  tea  tree.  The  hydrangeas,  so  well  known 
as  garden  flowers  in  England,  inhabit  marshes 
in  China,  and  wheK  cultivated  here  require 
large  quantities  of  water.  A  full- sized  one 
requires  as  much  as  ten  or  twelve  gallons  a  day 
in  warm  weather.  But  the  tea  shrub  is  pre- 
eminently the  plant  of  China.  The  plant  from 
which  the  tea  of  commerce  is  obtained,  is  Thea 
Chinensis,  a  plant  allied  to  the  lovely  camellia. 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  123 

A  considerable  number  of  varieties  of  the  tea 
plant  are  known,  two  or  three  of  which  have 
been  distinguished  by  several  botanists  as  dis- 
tinct species,  T.  boJiea,  T.  viridis,  and  T.  stricta. 
China,  Ava,  the  Burman  empire,  Thibet, 
Cochin  China,  Tonquin,  and  Assam,  all  cul- 
tivate the  tea.  plant,  but  especially  the  first  of 
these,  where  it  is  found  as  high  as  the  40th 
parallel  of  north  latitude.  Chinese  writings 
trace  the  use  of  tea  back  as  far  as  A.D.  265  ; 
and  ever  since  the  year  763,  when  a  duty  of 
ten  per  cent,  was  laid  upon  it,  the  government 
has  always  derived  from  it  a  large  revenue. 

Plantations  of  tea  are  formed  by  sowing 
the  seeds,  which  are  set  more  or  less  regu- 
larly. In  the  first  year,  the  middle  shoot  is 
stopped,  that  it  may  become  more  bushy  and 
leafy.  The  gathering  of  the  tea  crop  does  not 
commence  till  the  plants  are  four  or  five  years 
old.  They  are  generally  about  three  feet 
high,  and  about  three  feet  apart,  and  are  kept 
carefully  manured.  The  fresh  leaves  have 
nothing  of  the  flavour  and  odour  of  the  dried 
tea,  which  seems  to  be  produced  by  drying,  as 
that  of  coffee  is  by  roasting.  The  leaves  are 
laid  upon  large  iron  plates,  which  are  greatly 
heated,  and  in  large  flat  iron  pans,  with 
somewhat  sloping  sides.  The  leaves  are  first 
made  to  shrivel  up  in  these  pans,  by  the 
application  of  a  gentle  heat,  with  constant 
stirring,  arid  are  then  gradually  dried  by 
keeping  up  the  heat.  After  this,  the  hot 
leaves  are  turned  out  upon  mats,  and  rubbed 


124       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

with  the  palms  of  the  hands,  and  when  cool 
returned  to  the  pans  :  this  is  repeated  till  the 
tea  is  perfectly  dried.  In  this  way,  three 
pounds  of  leaves  produce  one  pound  of  tea. 
This  appears,  from  the  most  recent  accounts,  to 
be  the  usual  method  of  preparing  green  tea  ; 
black  tea  is  said  to  be  prepared  from  the  same 
kind  of  leaves,  in  the  same  way,  except  that 
they  are  first  exposed  for  some  time  in  sieves 
to  hot  steam. 

The  quality  of  the  tea  depends  upon  the 
stage  of  growth  at  which  it  is  gathered.  Early 
leaves  make  the  best  tea ;  those  picked  late 
in  the  season  a  very  coarse  one.  The  first 
gathering  of  tea  leaves  commences  about  the 
latter  end  of  February,  when  the  leaves  are 
young  and  unexpanded.  This  is  called  im- 
perial tea,  and  is  highly  esteemed.  Pekoe,  or 
pak-ko,  which  means  "  white  down"  in  Chinese, 
consists  of  the  first  downy  sprouts  or  leaf-buds, 
of  three  year  old  plants.  Of  course,  the  gather- 
ing must  be  injurious  to  some  extent  to  the 
future  produce  of  the  shrub  ;  hence,  the  tea  is 
both  dear,  and  the  production  small  in  quantity. 
A  very  costly  tea  of  this  kind,  never  brought 
to  Europe,  and  known  as  the  "  tea  of  the  wells 
of  the  dragon,"  is  used  only  by  persons  of 
the  highest  rank  in  China.  The  real  imperial 
tea,  also,  is  not,  as  is  usually  supposed,  the 
flower-buds,  but  only  a  very  superior  quality 
as  just  stated ;  it  is  seldom  brought  to  Europe, 
that  sold  under  this  name  being  really  Chusan 
tea,  flavoured  with  blossoms  of  Oka  fragrans. 


THE  SUB -TROPICAL  ZONE.  125 

"  Young  hvson,"  also,  till  it  was  spoiled  by 
the  large  demands  of  late  years,  was  a  delicate 
young  leaf,  called  in  Chinese  "Yu-tseen" — 
"  before  the  rains."  As  it  could  not  be  pro- 
duced genuine  in  any  large  quantity,  it  has 
been  imitated  by  cutting  up  green  teas  of 
common  quality,  and  sifting  them  through 
sieves  of  a  certain  size  ;  and  even  the  coarsest 
black  teas  have  of  late  been  cut  up  in  a  similar 
manner,  and  then  coloured  green  with  a  pre- 
paration ;  and  these  spurious  articles  form  the 
bulk  of  the  "  young  hyson"  now  sold.  The 
second  collection  of  leaves  is  made  about  the 
beginning  of  April,  and  the  third  in  June. 
The  bulk  of  the  last  collection  is  an  inferior 
and  coarse  kind  of  tea,  a  large  quantity  of 
which  is  retained  among  the  Chinese  for  home 
consumption. 

The  finest  and  most  delicate  teas  are  almost 
entirely  retained  among  the  Chinese  them- 
selves, for  use  among  the  higher  orders,  and 
for  presents.  The  middle  and  some  of  the 
coarser  qualities  are  those  chiefly  exported. 
Some  of  the  inferior  qualities  are  made  into 
what  is  called  brick  tea.  It  comes  into  trade 
in  hard  cakes,  very  like  thin  bricks,  consisting 
of  leaves  only  partially  separated  from  the 
stalks,  held  together  by  some  clammy  sub- 
stance, pressed  in  the  form  of  cakes,  and  dried 
in  the  ovens.  In  using  it,  some  pieces  are 
broken  off,  reduced  to  powder,  and  then  boiled 
with  water  or  milk,  meal,  and  fat.  The  soldiers 
on  the  northern  frontier  of  China  are  paid  in 
11* 


126       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

brick  tea,  and  in  Tartary  it  is  the  usual  me- 
dium of  exchange. 

Now  let  us  look  a  little  at  the  consumption 
and  produce  of  tea.  It  was  first  brought  to 
Europe  by  the  Dutch,  in  1610.  A  small 
quantity  came  to  England  in  1650.  It  is 
first  publicly  noticed  in  an  act  of  parlia- 
ment of  the  year  1660,  in  which  it  is  enu- 
merated as  one  of  the  beverages  sold  in  coffee- 
houses, and  a  duty  of  eightpence  per  gallon 
was  laid  on  the  liquor  made  and  sold  from 
it.  In  the  Journal  of  Pepys,  then  secretary  to 
the  Admiralty,  he  says  :  "  Sept,  25,  1661.  I 
sent  for  a  cup  of  tea,  (a  China  drink,)  of 
which  I  had  never  drunk  before."  In  1664, 
the  British  East  India  Company  sent  two 
pounds  of  tea  as  a  present  to  the  king.  Two 
years  later,  a  quantity  was  imported  from 
Holland  by  lord  Arlington  and  lord  Ossory, 
at  which  time  it  was  sold  for  sixty  shillings  per 
pound.  In  1667,  the  East  India  Company 
issued  their  first  order  to  import  tea,  directing 
their  agent  at  Bantam  to  send  home  100  pounds 
of  the  best  he  could  get.  Since  that  time  the 
consumption  has  steadily  increased.  In  1734, 
the  quantity  imported  was  632,000  pounds  ;  in 
1768,  it  was  nearly  7,000,000 pounds;  in  1812, 
20,000,000  pounds  ;  and  during  the  last  four 
years  of  the  East  India  Company's  charter,  it  ave- 
raged 31,500,000  pounds.  Since  the  abolition  of 
the  monopoly,  and  the  consequent  reduction  in 
price,  the  consumption  has  received  a  power- 
ful impulse,  and  the  importation  of  1847  was 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE,  127 

55, 624,946  pounds.  It  has  been  calculated  thai 
the  consumption  of  tea  in  England  is  equal  to 
a  pound  and  a  half  per  annum  for  each  indi- 
vidual ;  but  in  China  it  must  be  much  greater 
in  proportion,  for  there  every  one,  who  can, 
drinks  tea  at  every  meal — three,  six,  or  even 
ten  times  in  the  day.  Tea,  too,  is  much 
cheaper  there  than  in  England,  the  average 
price  being  one-fourth  of  a  piastre  per  pound 
in  Canton,  equal  to  about  tenpence  English. 
If,  then,  the  consumption  be  only  at  the  same 
rate  as  in  England,  450,000,000  pounds,  at  least, 
are  annually  consumed  in  that  empire  alone. 
How  vast  the  quantity  of  fresh  leaves,  the 
extent  of  plantations,  and  the  number  of  hands 
necessarily  engaged  in  the  culture  and  manu- 
facture of  this  enormous  bulk  of  the  one  articl0 
— tea ! 

But  ere  we  leave  China,  we  must  briefly 
notice  rice,  which,  with  tea  and  cotton,  form 
the  three  most  important  products  of  the  east. 
Rice  probably  supports  more  persons  than  any 
other  kind  of  grain.  It  is  a  native  of  South 
America,  as  on  the  Rio  Negro  and  in  Para  ; 
also  of  Ethiopia,  and  probably  of  Asia.  It  is 
most  generally  cultivated  in  the  east  and  south 
parts  of  Asia,  where  it  forms  the  staple  article  of 
food  ;  and,  to  a  great  extent,  it  is  similarly  em- 
ployed in  the  north  of  Africa,  Egypt,  Nubia, 
Persia,  Arabia,  Asia  Minor,  Greece,  Italy,  and 
especially  in  the  Southern  States  of  North  Ame- 
rica, the  W^st  Indies,  Venezuela,  and  the  Brazils. 
In  India  ar^d  China,  where  rice  is  the  chief  food, 


128       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

famine  is  the  inevitable  consequence  of  a  failure 
of  the  crop,  and  this  is  not  unfrequent,  either 
from  too  much  or  too  little  rain,  or  from  insects. 
In  China,  the  land  no  longer  produces  sufficient 
food  for  the  excessive  population,  notwithstand- 
ing all  the  industry  with  which  agriculture  is 
carried  on ;  and  this  country,  therefore,  con- 
sumes all  the  superfluous  produce  of  the  fertile 
islands  of  the  Indian  Archipelago.  But  when 
the  rice  crop  fails  in  China,  the  greatest  fleets 
could  hardly  bring  so  much  of  the  grain  as 
would  be  required  to  prevent  a  famine.  The 
Chinese  government,  therefore,  adopts  the  same 
wise  and  benevolent  policy  which  Joseph  re- 
commended to  Pharaoh.  Public  granaries  are 
established  in  each  province,  under  the  control 
of  certain  officers,  whose  duty  it  is,  during  a 
time  of  plenty,  to  purchase,  at  the  cost  of 
government,  large  supplies  of  rice,  to  be  distri- 
buted to  the  poor  at  such  prices  as  circum- 
stances may  require.  If  the  grain  of  the  follow- 
ing year  should  amount  to  an  average  crop, 
the  stock'  on  hand  is  sold  at  a  price  a  little 
lower  than  the  first  cost ;  if  the  supply  should 
be  considerably  short  of  the  demand,  it  is 
then  sold  to  the  poor  at  reduced  prices ; 
but  if  the  famine  should  be  severe,  it  is  then 
supplied  to  the  sufferers  gratuitously. 

There  are  two  varieties  of  rice  :  the  moun- 
tain rice,  which  grows  on  hills ;  the  other 
in  marshy  or  very  wet  places.  The  common, 
or  marsh  rice,  is  generally  sown  in  hollows  pre- 
pared for  it,  two  or  three  feet  deep,  and  which 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  129 

can  be  filled  with  water.  In  the  south  of 
China,  these  rice  grounds  occupy  the  whole  of 
the  level  ground,  and  much  of  the  sides  of  the 
mountains.  In  the  latter  case,  they  are  either 
supplied  with  water  by  the  streams  which 
descend  the  mountain  sides,  or  water  is  pumped 
from  a  field  to  the  one  lying  above  it,  and 
in  this  way  the  water  is  often  carried  one 
thousand  feet  high.  When  the  young  plants 
are  two  or  three  inches  high  the  tops  are 
broken  off,  that  each  plant  may  form  several 
shoots.  In  some  parts  of  China,  each  plant  is 
transplanted  two  or  three  times,  in  order  to 
obtain  a  more  abundant  crop.  The  harvest 
commences  three  or  four  months  after  the 
transplanting  ;  the  ears  are  either  cut  closely 
off,  and  the  stalks  left  to  decay,  or  they  are  cut 
with  the  stalk,  and  bound  into  small  sheaves. 
The  average  produce  of  marsh  rice  is  from  one 
hundred  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  fold. 

A  great  variety  of  plants,  of  very  peculiar 
character,  and  strikingly  different  from  any 
which  we  are  accustomed  to  see,  distinguish 
this  zone  in  South  Australia.  We  wilfiiptice 
just  a  few  ;  to  do  more  would  occupy  too  much 
space,  while  a  mere  enumeration  of  the  scien- 
tific names  wrould  convey  no  information.  So 
strange  is  the  character  of  the  vegetation  of  this 
country,  that  at  first  it  would  seem  as  if  it 
belonged  to  a  different  world.  Evergreens,  of 
a  dark  melancholy  hue,  prevail ;  and  there  are 
whole  shadowless  forests  of  trees,  with  leaf 
stalks,  but  no  leaves.  The  leaf  stalks,  dilated 


130  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

and  set  edge-wise  on  the  stem,  supply  the  place 
of  leaves  in  providing  nourishment  for  the  tree. 
They  have  a  most  singular  appearance.  The 
beautiful  shrubby  tribe  of  proteas,  of  which 
there  are  six  hundred  and  fifty  known  species, 
abound  in  Australia,  and  nearly  half  of  this 
number  grow  in  the  latitude  of  33°  or  34°. 
The  myrtle  tribe  abound  here,  with  splendid 
blossoms — white,  purple,  yellow,  and  crimson. 
Of  one  genus  of  this  tribe,  Eucalyptus^  or  gum 
tree,  one  hundred  species,  most  of  them  large 
trees,  grow  in  this  country,  some  two  hundred 
feet  high,  with  straight  trunks,  rising  to  the 
height  of  one  hundred  or  one  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  without  branching,  and  resembling  an 
assemblage  of  elegant  columns,  so  irregularly 
placed  as  to  intercept  the  view  at  the  distance 
of  a  few  hundred  yards.  They  are  elegantly 
crowned  with  branching  tops  of  light  willow- 
like  foliage.  Some  of  what  are  called  "  stringy 
bark  gum  trees,"  rise  nearly  as  high  as  the 
Monument  without  branching. 

A  gigantic  nettle,  Urtica  gigas,  is  a  tree  with 
trunks  eighteen,  twenty,  or  even  twenty-one 
feet  in  circumference  ;  the  leaves  are  heart- 
shaped,  and  six  inches  across  ;  the  sting  is  as 
painful  as  that  of  a  wasp.  The  Moreton  Bay 
chesnut,  Catanospermum  Australis,  is  a  fine  tree, 
with  a  profusion  of  flame-coloured  blossoms,  and 
leaves  like  those  of  the  walnut.  Doryanthes 
excelsa,  a  splendid  plant  of  the  lily  tribe,  twenty- 
four  feet  high,  has  brilliant  crimson  blossoms, 
and  stems  as  thick  as  a  man's  arm,  which  are 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  131 

roasted  and  eaten  by  the  natives.  Leafless 
acacias,  of  which  there  are  ninety- three  species, 
and  the  Epacris,  a  beautiful  tribe  resembling 
the  heaths,  and  containing  three  hundred  and 
twenty  species,  with  scarlet,  rose,  and  white 
blossoms,  form  conspicuous  features  in  the 
vegetation.  The  Epacridce  are  almost  confined 
to  Australia  and  Polynesia.  Only  a  single 
species  of  heath  is  found  throughout  Australia. 
Some  species  of  fig  which  grow  here  are  very 
remarkable.  It  sometimes  happens,  that  when 
the  seeds  of  these  fig  trees  are  deposited  by 
birds  in  the  cavities  of  other  trees,  as  the 
eucalyptus,  etc.,  at  elevations  of  perhaps  fifty 
feet,  or  more,  they  vegetate,  and  send  down 
roots  to  the  ground.  These  adhere  to  the 
tree  in  their  course,  and  branching,  unite  with 
other  roots  of  a  similar  kind.  These  thicken, 
spread,  and  again  interlace,  till  at  length  the 
foster  tree  is  completely  encased,  and  its  top 
is  only  visible,  rising  from  among  the  branches 
of  the  fig,  at  the  height  of  seventy  or  eighty 
feet. 

In  middle  Australia,  various  parasitic  orcln- 
deacece  adorn  the  branches  of  the  forest  trees, 
and  numerous  climbing  plants,  with  stems 
varying  from  the  thickness  of  a  pack-thread  to 
that  of  a  man's  body,  ascend  into  their  tops, 
and  send  down  their  branches  in  graceful  fes- 
toons. Two  species  of  passion  flower,  one  of 
jasmine,  three  of  cissus,  (a  vine-like  plant,  with 
grapes  the  size  of  sloes,)  various  ipomaeas,  with 
lovely  large  flowers  of  pink,  blue,  white,  and 


132  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

yellow  tints  ;  species  of  pepper,  running  up  the 
trees  like  ivy ;  and  beautiful  tecomas,  (or  trum- 
pet flower,)  with  brilliant  white  flowers,  tinged 
with  rose — Avere  a  few  of  the  rich  variety  ob- 
served by  Mr.  Backhouse  in  these  forests.  A 
cabbage  palm  (Corypha  Australis)  abounds.  In 
South  Australia,  the  grass  -tree  (Kingia  Australis) 
rises  solitary  on  the  sandy  plains,  with  bare 
blackened  trunks,  as  if  scathed  by  lightning, 
occasioned  by  the  fires  of  the  natives,  and  with 
long  tufts  of  grassy  leaves  at  their  extremities. 
Xanthorrhea  hastilis  (also  called  the  grass-tree) 
is  a  very  singular  tree  in  its  appearance,  but 
furnishes  very  valuable  fodder  for  all  kinds  of 
cattle,  and  the  tender  inner  leaves  are  not  to  be 
despised  by  the  hungry  as  human  food  ;  they 
are  far  from  disagreeable,  having  a  milky  taste, 
with  a  slight  balsamic  flavour.  But  we  must 
not  omit  to  mention  the  numerous  ferns,  which 
form  a  most  marked  feature  in  the  Australian 
flora,  and  which  are  of  all  sizes,  from  the  small 
and  delicate  frond  to  the  magnificently  beau- 
tiful tree  ferns,  with  their  feathery  fronds  thir- 
teen feet  long.  Some  of  them  climb  the  trees 
like  ivy,  some  crowd  the  trunks  of  the  largest 
forest  trees,  some  cover  the  ground,  and  some 
are  splendid  tree  ferns,  with  fronds  from  six  to 
thirteen  feet  long,  and  trunks  varying  from  three 
to  thirty  feet  in  height.  Acrosticlmm  grande, 
one  of  the  ferns  that  grow  on  the  trees,  is  as 
large  as  a  full-grown  Scotch  cabbage,  and  is 
remarkably  beautiful.  The  elk's  horn  fern 
(Acrostichum  akicorne)  grows  in  thick,  dense 


THE  S'JB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  133 

masses,  encircling  the  trucks  of  the  trees.  It 
retains  much  moisture  in  its  dead,  sterile  fronds, 
which  form  large  scales,  rising  one  over  another; 
it  generally  grows  on  the  upper  portions  of  the 
trunks  of  the  Casuarince ,  (called  "oaks"  in 
Australia,)  and  in  stormy  weather  they  are 
sometimes  thrown  down  by  the  weight  of  water 
and  vegetable  matter  thus  accumulated  above 
thorn.  Not  the  least  remarkable  circumstance 
in  Australian  vegetation  is,  that  scarce  any 
edible  fruits,  grain,  or  vegetables,  have  as  yet 
been  found  native  there. 

The  flora  of  South  Africa  differs  very  re- 
markably from  that  of  most  other  parts  of  our 
globe,  but  most  resembles  that  of  Australia. 
The  soil  is  sometimes  gravelly,  sometimes  sand 
arid  clay,  and  stretches  to  an  unknown  distance 
into  the  interior.  During  the  summer  it  is 
dry  and  parched,  many  even  of  the  rivers  dis- 
appear, and  but  few  plants  are  seen,  except 
succulent-leaved  mesembryanthemums,etc.,  and 
stunted  mimosas.  The  effect  of  rain  is,  however, 
like  magic  ;  in  a  short  time,  the  ground  is 
covered  with  a  vast  variety  of  beautiful  plants, 
great  numbers  of  which  are  peculiar  to  the 
district.  Twelve  thousand  species  of  plants 
have  been  collected  in  the  colony  of  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  among  wrhich  heaths,  proteas, 
geraniums,  and  everlasting  flowers,  hold  a  con- 
spicuous place. 

"  Gay  plants  on  every  side 
Unclose  their  lovely  blooms, 
And  scatter  far  and  wide 
Their  ravishing  perfumes." 

12 


132  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

yellow  tints  ;  species  of  pepper,  running  up  the 
trees  like  ivy;  and  beautiful  tecomas,  (or  trum- 
pet flower,)  with  brilliant  white  flowers,  tinged 
with  rose — were  a  few  of  the  rich  variety  ob- 
served by  Mr.  Backhouse  in  these  forests.  A 
cabbage  palm  (Corypha  Australis)  abounds.  In 
South  Australia,  the  grass-ties (Kingia  Australia) 
rises  solitary  on  the  sandy  plains,  with  bare 
blackened  trunks,  as  if  scathed  by  lightning, 
occasioned  by  the  fires  of  the  natives,  and  with 
long  tufts  of  grassy  leaves  at  their  extremities. 
Xantliorrliea  hastilis  (also  called  the  grass-tree) 
is  a  very  singular  tree  in  its  appearance,  but 
furnishes  very  valuable  fodder  for  all  kinds  of 
cattle,  and  the  tender  inner  leaves  are  not  to  be 
despised  by  the  hungry  as  human  food  ;  they 
are  far  from  disagreeable,  having  a  milky  taste, 
with  a  slight  balsamic  flavour.  But  we  must 
not  omit  to  mention  the  numerous  ferns,  which 
form  a  most 'marked  feature  in  the  Australian 
flora,  and  which  are  of  all  sizes,  from  the  small 
and  delicate  frond  to  the  magnificently  beau- 
tiful tree  ferns,  with  their  feathery  fronds  thir- 
teen feet  long.  Some  of  them  climb  the  trees 
like  ivy,  some  crowd  the  trunks  of  the  largest 
forest  trees,  some  cover  the  ground,  and  some 
are  splendid  tree  ferns,  with  fronds  from  six  to 
thirteen  feet  long,  and  trunks  varying  from  three 
to  thirty  feet  in  height.  Acrostichum  grartde, 
one  of  the  ferns  that  grow  on  the  trees,  is  as 
large  as  a  full-grown  Scotch  cabbage,  and  is 
remarkably  beautiful.  The  elk's  horn  fern 
(Acrostichum  alticorne)  grows  in  thick,  dense 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  133 

masses,  encircling  the  truLks  of  the  trees.  It 
retains  much  moisture  in  its  dead,  sterile  fronds, 
which  form  large  scales,  rising  one  over  another ; 
it  generally  grows  on  the  upper  portions  of  the 
trunks  of  the  Casnarince,  (called  "oaks"  in 
Australia,)  and  in  stormy  weather  they  are 
sometimes  thrown  down  by  the  weight  of  water 
and  vegetable  matter  thus  accumulated  above 
them.  Not  the  least  remarkable  circumstance 
in  Australian  vegetation  is,  that  scarce  any 
edible  fruits,  grain,  or  vegetables,  have  as  yet 
been  found  native  there. 

The  flora  of  South  Africa  differs  very  re- 
markably from  that  of  most  other  parts  of  our 
globe,  but  most  resembles  that  of  Australia. 
The  soil  is  sometimes  gravelly,  sometimes  sand 
arid  clay,  and  stretches  to  an  unknown  distance 
into  the  interior.  During  the  summer  it  is 
dry  and  parched,  many  even  of  the  rivers  dis- 
appear, and  but  few  plants  are  seen,  except 
succulent-leaved  mesembryanthemums,etc.,  and 
stunted  mimosas.  The  effect  of  rain  is,  however, 
like  magic  ;  in  a  short  time,  the  ground  is 
covered  with  a  vast  variety  of  beautiful  plants, 
great  numbers  of  which  are  peculiar  to  the 
district.  Twelve  thousand  species  of  plants 
have  been  collected  in  the  colony  of  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  among  which  heaths,  proteas, 
geraniums,  and  everlasting  flowers,  hold  a  con- 
spicuous place. 

"  Gay  plants  on  every  side 
Unclose  their  lovely  blooms, 
And  scatter  far  and  wide 
Their  ravishing  perfumes." 

12 


136  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

our  hot-houses,  reaches  a  considerable  size,  is 
said  to  attain  a  circumference  of  three  hundred 
or  four  hundred  feet  at  the  Cape,  and  yet  the 
soil  is  nowhere  drier  than  in  those  places 
where  the  aloes  are  found.  Great  succulent 
prickly  euphorbias  also  abound  here,  some  of 
which  grow  into  trees  forty  feet  high. 

Plants  of  the  genera  Cycas  and  Zamia  are 
found  frequenting  the  West  Indies,  Japan, 
and  Madagascar.  They  most  resemble  palms, 
with  very  short  stems,  though  one  which 
grows  on  the  west  coast  of  Australia  is  thirty 
feet  high.  Some  of  these  yield  a  kind  of 
arrow-root  and  sago  ;  the  sago  produced  from 
Cycas  revoluta  is  said  to  be  held  in  the  highest 
esteem  ;  soldiers  are  able  to  exist  for  a  long 
time  on  a  very  small  quantity  of  it,  and  the 
laws  of  Japan  forbid  the  removal  of  the  plants 
from  the  country.  The  trunks  of  species  of 
this  tribe  have  been  found  in  considerable 
numbers  near  the  Isle  of  Portland,  in  our  own- 
country,  in  a  fossil  state,  apparently  indicating 
a  time  when  the  climate  o£  England  was  of 
a  far  more  tropical  character  than  at  present, 
Many  otler  facts  point  to  a  similar  conclusion.* 
South  Africa  is  the  country  of  geraniums,  by 
far  the  larger  part  of  the  tribe  being  found 
here.  Five  species  of  geranium,  three  of  Ero- 
dium,  and  two  hundred  and  eighty -seven 
species  of  Pelargonium  inhabit  the  Cape,  and 
nil  the  air  with  their  perfume. 

To  the  genus  Pelargonium  belong  almost  all 
*  Not  one  species  of  palm  is  indigenous  to  the  colony. 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  137 

the  beautiful  and  favourite  "  geraniums  "  of  our 
gardens,  green-houses,  and  cottage  windows. 
Ninety-four  beautiful  species  of  Oxalis,  or 
wood-sorrel  ;Mxias  innumerable,  a  lovely  tribe 
of  bulbous-rooted  plants ;  one  hundred  and 
fifty-three  species  of  the  house-leek  and  stone- 
crop  tribe,  all  fleshy,  attached  to  the  soil  by  a 
strong  wiry  root,  and  nourished  more  or  less 
from  the  atmosphere,  are  among  the  rich  vege- 
tation of  the  Cape.  Many  of  the  succulent 
plants  are  found  in  the  driest  situations,  where 
not  a  blade  of  grass  nor  a  particle  of  moss  can 
grow — on  naked  rocks,  old  walls,  sandy  hot 
plains,  alternately  exposed  to  the  heaviest  dews 
of  night,  and  the  fiercest  rays  of  a  noonday's 
sun.  Soil  is  to  them  something  to  keep  them 
stationary,  rather  than  a  source  of  nutriment. 
So  tenacious  are  they  of  life,  that  even  when 
gathered,  and  between  the  drying  paper  of  the 
botanical  collector,  under  a  heavy  pressure, 
and  having  been  exposed  to  heat,  if  possible  to 
kill  them,  they  have  been  known  not  only  to 
live,  but  even  to  push  out  long  shoots,  and  if 
in  flower,  for  the  process  of  fructification  to 
proceed  as  if  growing  in  the  soil.  Three  hun- 
dred and  twenty-six  species  of  the  succulent 
tribe  of  mesembryanthernums,  called  fig  mari- 
golds and  ice  plants,  are  found  here,  many  of 
which  have  star-like  flowers  of  dazzling  beauty, 
and  of  every  tint  of  white,  yellow,  purple,  rose- 
colour,  brown,  flesh-coloured,  red,  crimson  and 
scarlet.  Many  another  tribe,  equally  showy 
and  brilliant,  though  less  known,  adorns  the 


138  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

wilds  ot  South  Africa,  with  a  splendour  un- 
known in  our  colder  clime. 

Among  the  most  striking  features  of  the 
Cape  are  the  myrtle  hedges,  which  grow  to  a 
great  height  around  every  inclosure  ;  "  their 
blooming  beauty  waving  over  the  head  of  the 
passenger ;  they  unite  their  fragrance  with  the 
odoriferous  exhalations  from  the  orange  and 
lemon  trees,  so  abundant  in  that  clime."  Some- 
times these  luxuriant  hedges  extend  for  one  or 
two  miles,  separating  gardens,  orchards,  and 
other  cultivated  grounds.  Some  of  our  country- 
men, who  have  visited  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
have  recorded,  that  on  their  first  arrival  there 
they  have  trodden  with  caution,  lest  they  should 
destroy  the  bright  and  beautiful  heaths,  gera- 
niums, ixias,  etc.,  which  lay  in  their  path. 
When  wandering  into  the  country  they  have 
come  home  laden  with  the  wild  flowers  of  the 
land,  and  have  wondered  how  the  colonists 
could  wholly  neglect  the  peerless  beauties 
around  them,  while  they  cultivated  with  the 
most  sedulous  attention  the  paler  flowers  of 
more  northern  regions,  the  tulips,  primroses, 
hyacinths,  etc.,  of  Europe.  Not  one  of  the 
lovely  heaths  is  admitted  into  the  garden  of  a 
colonist ;  and  our  countrymen  in  like  manner 
soon  came  to  regard  them  as  common  bushes, 
and  cherish  the  English  plants,  which  now  had 
attained  to  the  value  of  exotics. 

But  rich  as  is  the  vegetation  of  South 
Africa,  and  beautiful  as  its  plants  are,  there  are 
vast  tracts  which  are  entirely  desert,  where 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  139 

only  a  few  mimosas  mark  the  course  of  some 
scanty  wLter- course,  dried  up  in  the  hotter 
months.  These  vast  deserts  are  termed  the 
Karroo,  and  Mr.  Campbell  remarked  to  Mr. 
Moffat,  after  travelling  several  days  across 
them,  "  Sir,  it  would  require  a  good  pair  of 
spectacles  to  see  a  blade  of  grass  in  this  world." 
The  Karroo  has  been  well  described  by  one 
who  lived  near  its  borders,  and  has  often  trod 
its  surface — 

"  A  region  of  emptiness,  howling  and  drear, 
Which  mankind  hath  abandon'd  from  famine  and  fear : 
Which  the  snake  and  the  lizard  inhabit  alone, 
And  the  bat  flitting  forth  from  his  old  hollow  stone : 
Where  herb,  nor  shrub,  nor  tree  takes  root, 
Save  poisonous  thorns  that  pierce  the  foot, — 
And  the  bitter  melon,  for  food  and  drink, 
Is  the  pilgrim's  fare  by  the  salt  lake's  brink ; — 
A  region  of  drought,  where  no  river  glides, 
Nor  rippling1  brook  with  osier'd  sides, 
Nor  reedy  pool,  nor  mossy  fountain, 
Nor  shady  tree,  nor  cloud-capp'd  mountain,— 
Are  found,  to  refresh  the  aching  eye ; 
But  the  barren  earth,  and  the  burning  sky, 
And  the  blank  horizon,  round  and  round, 
Without  a  living  sight  or  sound, 
Tell  to  the  heart,  in  its  pensive  mood, 
That  this  is  nature's  solitude." 

In  North  America,  the  lovely  magnolias,  the 
elegant  but  poisonous  kalmias,  both  so  de- 
servedly prized  by  florists,  and  various  species 
of  pine  and  oak,  are  some  of  the  characteristic 
plants  of  this  zone.  On  the  Lower  Mississippi 
there  are  vast  forests  of  cypress  ;  species  of 
laurel,  walnuts,  sassafras,  willow,  and  poplar, 
also  cover  the  banks  in  places.  In  the  southern 
part  of  the  United  States,  trees  with  shining 
broad  leaves  and  splendid  blossoms,  such  as  the 
magnificent  magnolias,  and  tulip  trees  often  one 


140       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

hundred  and  twenty  feet  high,  are  distinctive 
features.  The  long-leaved  pitch  pine,  one  o* 
the  most  picturesque  of  trees,  covers  an  arid 
soil  on  the  coast  of  the  Atlantic  to  the  extent  of 
sixty  thousand  square  miles.  In  the  prairies  of 
the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  dahlias,  and  even- 
ing primroses  (CEnothera)  abound  with  species 
of  knapweed,  (Centaurea^)  wormwood,  and 
milk-vetch,  (Astragalus.)  Seven  species  of 
pine  are  indigenous  in  California,  some  of 
which  have  measured  two  hundred  and  even 
three  hundred  feet  in  height,  and  eighty  feet  in 
circumference.  Here,  too,  grow  the  beautiful 
flowering  currant  bushes,  now  become  so  gene- 
ral in  our  gardens,  and  so  ornamental  in  spring, 
(Ribes  sanguineum,  and  R.  aureum,)  and  hence, 
too,  come  some  of  the  most  beautiful  annuals 
of  our  flower  borders,  as  Gilia  tricolor,  ClarMa 
pulchella,  Bartonia  aurea,  Collinsia  bicolor,  Ery- 
mmum  peroffskianum,  etc. 

The  tobacco  plant  (Nicotiana  tabacum)  is  a 
native  of  this  part  of  America,  and  of  Persia. 
Three  species  only  are  cultivated  for  use,  the 
above,  and  N.  macrophylla  and  rustica.  The 
practice  of  tobacco  smoking  was  introduced  by 
sir  Walter  Raleigh,  about  1586.  Its  use,  how- 
ever, like  that  of  coffee,  encountered  much 
opposition.  Laws  and  severe  penalties  were 
enacted  against  it.  The  grand  duke  of  Moscow 
forbade  its  entrance  into  his  territory,  under 
pain  of  the  knout  for  the  first  offence,  and 
death  for  the  next.  The  emperor  of  the  Turks, 
the  king  of  Persia,  and  pope  Urban  vin.,  all 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  141 

issued  similar  prohibitions.  A  hundred  volumes 
were  written  against  it,  and  even  king  James  i. 
took  up  his  pen  to  suppress  it.  He  styles  it, 
"  a  custom  loathsome  to  the  eye,  hateful  to  the 
nose,  harmful  to  the  brain,  dangerous  to  the 
lungs,  and  in  the  black  stinking  fume  thereof 
most  nearly  resembling  the  horrible  Stygian 
smoke  of  the  pit  that  is  bottomless."  Notwith- 
standing all  this  opposition,  however,  smoking 
has  spread  not  only  among  civilized  but  savage 
nations  ;  and  now,  probably,  there  is  no 
single  product  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  so 
universally  used.  The  cultivation  of  tobacco 
for  commerce  is  chiefly  carried  on  from  23°  to 
40°  N.  lat.,  and  mainly  in  Virginia  and  Mary- 
land. It  might  be  successfully  cultivated  in 
England,  but  this  is  prohibited  in  order  to 
encourage  our  American  trade.  The  importa- 
tion into  this  country  in  1848  was  34,481,798 
pounds  of  manufactured  tobacco,  and  1.504,673 
pounds  of  cigars  and  snuff.  The  high  rate  of 
duty  upon  them,  3s,  per  pound,  is,  however,  a 
great  temptation  to  smuggling,  and  it  has  been 
calculated  that  one-fourth  of  the  quantity  con- 
sumed in  Britain,  and  three  -  fourths  of  that 
used  in  Ireland  are  contraband.  This  is,  pro- 
bably, an  over  estimate  of  the  present  state  of 
the  trade. 

From  Mexico  we  have  received  the  splendid 
dahlia,  brought  here  by  lady  Holland  in  1804  ; 
but  its  splendour,  as  cultivated  in  our  gardens, 
far  exceeds  that  of  the  wild  plant,  the  latter 
having  only  a  single  flower  of  a  reddish  colour, 


142       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

and  by  no  means  of  remarkable  beauty.  Here 
abound  a  variety  of  plants  of  singular  form, 
commonly  known  to  botanists  under  the  names 
of  Agave,  Furcrcea,  and  Yucca.  One  species 
of  the  latter  (  Y.  gloriosa)  is  commonly  known 
as  Adam's  needle  ;  and  one  of  the  agaves  (A. 
Americana)  is  the  celebrated  American  aloe. 
Some  of  these  plants  are  stemless,  while  others 
have  stems  of  various  height  and  size,  some  of 
them  fairly  deserving  to  be  called  gigantic. 

The  agaves  are  cultivated  in  Mexico  to  a 
very  large  extent  for  the  sake  of  the  sap,  which 
is  very  plentiful,  and  which,  after  being  drawn 
from  a  wound  made  in  the  flowering  shoot  just 
as  it  begins  to  rise,  is  fermented,  and  forms  a 
liquor  called  "  pulque."  which  is  a  very 
favourite  beverage  among  the  Mexicans.  A 
good  plant  yields  from  eight  to  fifteen  pints  of 
pulque  per  day,  during  two  or  three  months  ; 
and  a  very  vigorous  plant  is  said  to  yield  seven 
gallons  per  day,  and  through  a  much  longer 
period.  It  is  singular  that  the  plants  grow  on 
the  very  driest  ground,  which  is  often  scarcely 
covered  with  soil.  Pulque  is  said  to  have  a 
remarkably  disagreeable  odour,  resembling 
putrid  flesh  ;  but  when  once  the  repugnance  to 
this  smell  is  overcome,  even  foreigners  prefer 
pulque  to  every  other  drink,  for  it  is  said  to  be 
very  nutritious  and  refreshing.  Some  idea  of 
the  enormous  quantity  consumed  may  be 
formed  from  the  fact,  that,  before  the  revolu- 
tion, from  a  very  small  duty  laid  upon  it,  no 
less  than  £170,000  were  paid  yearly  upon  that 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  143 

brought  into  the  two  towns  of  Mexico  and  La 
Puebla. 

One  species  of  agave,  (A.  Americana,)  com- 
monly known  as  the  great  American  aloe,  is 
celebrated  as  flowering  only  once  in  a  hundred 
years  ;  the  fact  is,  that  all  the  agaves  and 
allied  genera  produce  a  flowering  spike  of  large 
size,  but  seldom  till  they  have  arrived  at  a  con- 
siderable age  ;  and  it  would  seem  as  if  in  some 
species  the  strength  of  the  plant  was  over- 
exerted to  produce  the  enormous  mass  of 
flowers,  for  they  seem  to  be  then  exhausted, 
and  die  soon  after.  The  pulque-bearing  agaves 
seldom  flower  till  they  are  fifteen  years  old. 
The  fibrous  parts  of  the  root  are  made  into 
cordage,  and  of  these  tough  ropes  the  rude 
suspension  bridges  of  Mexico  are  constructed. 
In  former  times,  the  agave  was  extensively 
employed  in  making  a  kind  of  paper,  which 
was  so  much  used  that,  in  the  time  of  Mon- 
tezuma,  thousands  seem  to  have  been  engaged 
in  painting  hieroglyphics  on  this  material.  Thus, 
as  Humboldt  says,  "  It  may  be  used  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  the  hemp  of  Asia,  the  paper  reed  of 
Africa,  and  the  vine  of  Europe."  In  the  West 
Indies  and  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  it  is  much 
employed  for  making  hedges,  which  are  most 
thoroughly  impervious. 

A  botanist  and  traveller,  Karwinski,  gives  a 
striking  account  of  a  plant  of  this  kind,  (Fur- 
cr<va  longcBva^)  which  he  discovered  on  the 
mountains  of  Oaxaca,  in  Mexico,  at  a  height 
of  nine  or  ten  thousand  feet.  This  giant  of 


144  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

flowers  had  a  slender  trunk,  forty  or  fifty  feet 
high,  and  from  twelve  to  eighteen  inches  in 
diameter  ;  at  the  top  of  this  began  the  great 
tuft  of  leaves,  five  and  six  feet  long,  from  the 
centre  of  which  rose  a  spike  of  numerous  white 
flowers  ;  this  spike  of  flowers  was  from  thirty 
to  forty  feet  long,  and  had  on  it  probably 
twenty  thousand  blossoms.  It  was,  therefore, 
from  eighty  to  ninety  feet  in  total  height,  and 
is  supposed  to  be  three  hundred  or  four  hun- 
dred years  old. 

But,  if  the  gigantic  furcrsea  is  so  imposing  in 
size,  the  yuccas  are  no  less  attractive  for  their 
beautiful  flowers,  of  which  we  cannot  have  a 
better  idea  than  by  imagining  a  tree  of  somewhat 
similar  figure  to  the  giant  just  described,  but  of 
far  lower  stature,  and  with  a  magnificent  spike 
of  tulip-like  flowers,  of  the  most  vivid  hues. 
The  South  American  flora  in  this  zone  differs 
most  remarkably  from  that  of  South  Africa 
or  Australia,  though  in  the  same  latitudes. 
Seventy-six  species  of  the  beautiful  Calceolaria, 
so  many  of  which  adorn  our  green-houses,  and 
many  species  of  oxalis.  or  wood  sorrel,  and 
mimosa,  inhabit  Brazil,  Chili,  etc.  Mimosa  pu- 
dica,  a  native  of  Brazil,  is  the  celebrated  sensi- 
tive plant,  the  leaves  closing  and  falling  on  the 
slightest  touch.  Most  of  the  mimosas,  of  which 
there  are  seventy-three  species,  possess  the  same 
property.  Myrtles,  fuchsias,  which  are  covered 
with  their  lovely  flowers  all  the  year  round,  grow 
everywhere.  Not  one  species  of  rose  has  been 
found  in  South  America.  But  the  most  interesting 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  145 

tribe  is  that  generally  known  as  the  cactus,  of 
which  there  are  eight  hundred  species,  not  one 
of  which  is  known  as  a  native  of  either  Europe, 
Asia,  Africa,  or  Australia,  though  in  many  of 
these  they  have  been  introduced,  and  grow 
freely  as  naturalized  plants,  as  for,  instance,  on 
Mount  ./Etna.  One  of  the  most  splendid  is  the 
night-blowing  cereus,  (Cereus  grandiflorus,)  the 
blossoms  of  which  begin  to  expand  about  six 
or  seven  in  the  evening,  and  are  fully  blown  by 
eleven  o'clock,  but  by  three  or  four  in  the 
morning  they  fade,  and  hang  down  quite  de- 
cayed. There  is  scarcely  a  flower  known  of 
greater  beauty  than  this.  Its  blossoms  are 
neaily  a  foot  in  diameter  ;  the  outer  petals  are 
of  a  dark  brown,  the  inner  ones  of  a  splendid 
yellow,  which  gradually  shades  off  to  the  most 
brilliant  white  in  the  centre  of  the  flower. 
When  several  of  these  magnificent  flowers, 
therefore,  are  open  at  once  upon  a  single  plant, 
they  seem  like  stars  shining  out  in  all  their 
lustre,  verifying  the  poet's  declaration — 

"  Darkness  shows  us  worlds  of  light, 
We  never  see  by  day." 

Some  of  the  species,  forming  the  genus  Melocactus 
are  globular,  furrowed  and  beset  with  spines, 
and  in  shape  greatly  resembling  melons. 

Another,  Cereus  semlis,  is  called  the  old  man 
cactus  ;  it  is  of  an  oblong  shape,  about  three 
inches  high,  of  a  greyish  colour,  and  covered 
with  long  hair-like  bristles,  like  the  grey  head 
of  an  old  man.  It  has  a  very  singular  appear- 
ance. The  creeping  cereus,  (or  "  creap  in 
13 


146       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

serious,"  as  we  have  seen  it  spelt  on  a  boat  on 
the  coast.)  Cereus  flagelliformis,  so  common  in 
our  green-houses  and  cottage- windows,  is  a 
native  of  South  America,  and  of  the  deserts  of 
Arabia.  It  is  not,  however,  to  be  despised  be- 
cause it  is  common,  for  its  flowers  are  very  beau- 
tiful, and  are  produced  in  profusion,  while  the 
ease  with  which  it  may  be  trained  on  trellises 
renders  it  a  desirable  ornament.  The  fruits  of 
several  species  of  the  cactus  tribe  are  used  as 
edibles,  and  are  very  grateful  in  hot  countries. 
On  Mount  ./Etna  they  are  sold  in  considerable 
quantities,  and  some  of  the  varieties  are  excel- 
lent. The  fruit  of  one  species  (Opuntia  tuna) 
is  of  the  richest  carmine  hue,  and  its  juice 
is  employed  at  Naples  as  a  water  colour.  But 
the  most  important  use  of  this  tribe  is  the 
production  .of  cochineal,  which  is  not  strictly, 
however,  a  product  of  the  plants,  but  an  insect 
allied  to  our  lady-birds,  which  lives  and  feeds  on 
several  species,  chiefly  on  Opuntia  coclrinellifera 
and  0.  tuna.  The  cochineal  cactuses  are  princi- 
pally cultivated  in  Mexico,  Brazil,  and  the 
West  Indies,  whence  we  receive  our  chief  supply 
of  cochineal.  Attempts  also  have  been  made 
to  introduce  them  into  Teneriffe  and  Madeira, 
where  they  appear  to  succeed  ;  but  it  seems  pro- 
•foable  that  cochineal  can  be  grown  with  advan- 
tage only  where  labour  is  very  cheap.  The 
quantity  imported  into  England  in  1848  was 
2,058,560  pounds.  On  the  table-lands  of 
southern  Peru,  near  the  limit  of  vegetation, 
there  are  seen  mounds,  a  foot  of  a  foot  and  a 


THE  SUB-TROPICAL  ZONE.  147 

half  high,  of  a  reddish  yellow  colour,  which 
are  often  mistaken  at  a  distance  for  crouching 
deer ;  but  when  more,  closely  examined  the 
resemblance  vanishes.  These  little  mounds  are 
formed  of  low  cactus  plants,  the  leaves  of  which 
are  pressed  close  to  each  other,  and  covered  with 
reddish  yellow  spines,  two  or  three  inches  long, 
between  which  the  flowers  appear,  but  do  not 
rise  above  them. 


148       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

Warmer  temperate  zone  —  Orange — Vine — Varieties — Asia 
Minor— Benefits  of  commerce— Rose  —  Thibet— Prangosv— 
United  States— Maize— Chili— Araucaria— Primeval  forests 
— New  Zealand  —  Van  Diemen's  Land — The  colder  tem- 
perate zone— Oak— Corn— Comparison  of  this  zone  in  the 
northern  and  southern  hemispheres  —  Sub -arctic  zone  — 
Pine  and  Fir— Arctic  zone— Polar  zone. 

THE  Warmer  Temperate  Zone  extends  from  34° 
to  45°  of  latitude  either  north  or  south.  This 
zone  includes  southern  Europe,  as  far  as  the 
Pyrenees  and  the  southern  Alps,  Italy,  Spain, 
Portugal,  the  south  of  France,  the  isles  of  the 
Mediterranean,  Turkey,  and  Greece.  In  Asia — 
Asia  Minor,  part  of  Syria,  Armenia,  the  north 
of  Persia,  the  south  of  Tartary,  the  north  of 
Thibet,  the  northern  part  of  the  vast  Chinese 
empire,  and  Japan.  In  North  America — the 
northern  part  of  the  United  States,  the  Mis- 
souri and  Oregon  territories.  In  South  America 
— the  south  of  Chili,  and  parts  of  La  Plata  and 
Patagonia :  New  Zealand,  and  Van  Diemen's 
Land.  The  average  mean  temperature  of  these 
countries  is  between  53°  and  62°  Fahr.  In  the 
plains  of  Majorca,  the  carob  tree  (Ceratonia 
siliqua)  and  the  olive  grow  luxuriantly.  Many 
of  the  greatest  favourites  in  our  gardens  and 


Till!-  WARMER  TEMPERATE  ZONE.  14C 

grounds  are  natives  of  southern  Europe,  as 
anemonies,  tulips,  iris,  asphodel,  carnations, 
lavender,  etc.  In  Spain,  Portugal,  and  Sicily, 
tropical  families  appear  in  the  oleander,  myrtle, 
pomegranate,  and  olive.  Cactuses,  though  not 
native,  flourish  luxuriantly.  A  gigantic  grass 
(Arundo  donax)  rises  to  the  height  of  twenty 
feet  and  upwards.  The  Chamcerops  humilis 
affords  the  most  northerly  specimen  of  the 
palm  family,  and  the  date  palm  may  occasionally 
be  seen,  but  only  cultivated,  and  it  does  not 
produce  fruit.  This  is,  indeed,  the  northerly 
limit  of  the  palms. 

The  banana  is  frequently  found  on  the  banks 
of  the  Guadalquiver,  and  the  lime,  the  orange, 
the  citron,  and  the  lemon,  grow  abundantly,  and 
perfume  the  air  with  their  blossoms.  They 
are  generally  supposed  to  be  only  naturalized 
in  southern  Europe,  and  that  all  are  originally 
natives  of  Asia.  The  orange  tree  is  one  of 
great  value,  affording  a  fruit  which  is  not  only 
exceedingly  grateful  and  wholesome,  but  one 
of  such  durability,  that  it  can  be  kept  for  a 
considerable  time  with  less  alteration  than  any 
other  fruit ;  its  thick  spongy  rind,  studded 
over  the  surface  with  innumerable  oil  recepta- 
cles, enabling  it  to  resist  both  the  changes  of 
the  atmosphere,  and  the  evaporation  of  its 
juice.  It  is  the  only  tropical  fruit  which  can 
be  imported  into  this  country  at  so  cheap  a 
rate  as  to  compare  in  price  with  our  native 
ones,  and  thus,  while  affording  a  luxury  to 
the  poor,  it  is  of  so  delicious  a  nature,  that 
13* 


150  THE  GEOGRAPHY  €F  PLANTS. 

it  is  not  despised  by  the  rich.  From  the 
amount  of  duty  paid,  it  is  calculated  that 
272,000,000  of  oranges  are  annually  imported 
into  this  country.  390,546  chests  of  oranges 
and  lemons,  besides  a  considerable  number 
loose,  and  a  still  further  quantity  which  were 
only  entered  by  value,  were  imported  in  1848. 
So  prolific  are  the  trees,  that  a  single  one 
in  St.  Michael's  has  been  known  to  produce 
20,000  oranges  fit  for  packing,  exclusive  of 
damaged  ones  and  waste,  which  may  be 
calculated  at  a  third  more.  The  oranges 
intended  for  exportation  are  gathered  green  ; 
if  they  were  suffered  to  become  ripe,  they 
would  spoil  on  the  passage.  The  orange 
harvest  commences  with  October,  and  ends 
with  December,  a  period  of  about  three 
months  ;  to  ripen  on  the  tree,  they  would 
require  to  hang  till  the  spring.  It  is  a 
singular  fact,  that  the  trees  from  which  the 
oranges  are  gathered  green,  bear  plentifully 
every  year,  but  if  they  hang  till  ripe,  the  tree 
only  bears  well  every  other  year.  Near 
Cordova,  there  are  orange  trees  six  or  seven 
hundred  years  old  ;  in  Andalusia,  there  are 
extensive  orchards,  which  formed  the  principal 
source  of  revenue  to  the  monks  for  ages  ;  and 
in  the  south  and  south-west  of  Italy,  there  are 
groves  of  oranges  almost  amounting  to  forests. 

Spain  and  Portugal  are  the  head-quarters  of 
the  Cistus  tribe ;  no  less  than  twenty-one 
species  of  Cistus*  and  eighty-three  of  Helian- 
themum,  being  found  there.  They  are  a  beau- 


THE  WARMER  TEMPERATE  ZONE.  151 

tiful  tribe  of  flowers,  appearing  in  a  won- 
derful succession,  which  open  every  morn- 
ing, and  fall  off  before  the  close  of  the 
day.  The  gum  cistus  (0.  ladaniferus)  is  a 
well-known  and  extremely  beautiful  species  ; 
it  forms  extensive  groves  in  the  south  of  Spain 
and  Portugal,  but  is  not  found  either  in  Italy 
or  Greece.  In  the  north  of  Italy,  rice 
reaches  its  northern  limit  in  Europe.  It  is 
cultivated  near  Milan,  but  the  employment  is 
so  deleterious  to  the  labourers  engaged  in  it, 
that  the  government  has  prohibited  its  further 
extension.  The  Spanish  chesnut  abounds  in 
the  forests  of  the  south  of  Europe  ;  one  on 
Mount  JEtna  has  long  been  celebrated,  and  is 
said  to  be  capable  of  sheltering  a  hundred 
horsemen  iinder  its  boughs.  The  cabbage 
rose,  the  damask  rose,  the  laurustinus,  the 
laurel,  (Oerasus  lauro-cerasusj)  the  Christmas 
rose,  (Helleborus  niger,)  the  laburnum,  the 
monkshood,  the  pseony,  and  the  pyramidal 
bell-flower,  (Campanula  pyramidalis,)  so  beau- 
tiful a  pot  plant — are  all  brought  from  Spain, 
Italy,  and  Turkey.  The  Dictamnus  albus 
(or  Fraxinella,)  found  in  this  district  also, 
abounds  in  volatile  oil  to  such  a  degree,  that 
the  atmosphere  surrounding  it  becomes  im- 
flammable  in  hot  weather  ;  and  more  singular 
still,  if  lighted,  it  will  burn  without  injuring  the 
plant.  Passing  into  Armenia,  we  come  into  the 
native  region  of  the  vine.  Parrot  describes  it 
as  the  queen  of  the  forests  in  the  woods  of 
Mingreli  and  Imereti.  The  stem  there  attains 


152  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

a  thickness  of  from  three  to  six  inches,  and  it 
mounts  to  the  top  of  the  loftiest  trees,  festooning 
them,  and  binding  them  to  each  other. 

The  vine  is  generally  a  native  in  the 
countries  lying  between  the  Black  and  Caspian 
Seas  ;  from  whence  it  would  seem  to  have 
found  its  way  into  Egypt,  Greece,  and  Sicily  ; 
and  from  Sicily  to  Italy,  Spain,  France,  and 
England.  In  the  native  countries*  of  the  vine 
there  is  no  true  culture  of  it,  and  yet  there  is 
such  an  abundance  of  excellent  grapes,  that 
even  the  poor  peasant  does  not  gather  all  that 
grow  on  his  little  patch  of  land,  but  leaves  them 
over  the  winter,  and  often  before  Easter  the 
grapes  of  the  previous  year  are  beaten  off 
the  trees.  Very  probably  the  native  country 
of  the  vine  extends  far  beyond  the  Caspian  Sea 
towards  India,  and  even  the  north  of  China. 
Humboldt  estimates  that  it  can  flourish  wher- 
ever the  annual  mean  temperature  is  between 
50°  and  63°  Fahr.  In  America,  the  most 
northerly  limit  of  the  vine  appears  to  be  the 
40th  parallel  of  latitude.  In  both  hemi- 
spheres, it  does  not  seem  to  flourish  nearer  the 
equator  than  30°,  except  in  elevated  situations, 
where  the  altitude  compensates  for  the  latitude. 
In  Europe,  its  northern  limit  varies  ;  it  reaches 
further  north  in  the  interior  than  on  the 
western  coast.  In  the  west  of  France  it- 
reaches  to  49°  N.  lat. ;  in  England  it  ripens 
plentcously  only  in  favourable  years  ;  at  Berlin, 
53°  N.  lat.;  and  at  Dantzic,  54°  21'  N.  lat.,  it 
is  freely  cultivated.  It  has  even  been  carried 


THE  WARMER  TEMPERATE  ZONE.  155 

abovo  Konigsberg,  54°  42'  N.  lat.  It  therefore 
occupies  a  band  of  about  20°  in  breadth  in  the 
old  world,  and  about  10°  in  the  new. 

In  Egypt,  its  culture  appears  to  have 
been  carried  on  from  the  earliest  dates,  as 
we  learn  from  Scripture,  (Gen.  xl.  9 — 11.) 
It  \vas  never,  however,  grown  to  a  great 
extent,  as  the  soil  is  unfavourable  ;  the  grapes 
produced  are  small,  and  wine  was  never,  as 
it  is  in  south  Europe,  the  common  drink 
of  the  people,  who  used  beer  from  a  time 
only  inferior  to  the  culture  of  the  vine.  The 
growth  of  the  vine  in  Palestine,  and  the  prepa- 
ration of  wine  from  it,  may  be  traced  to  a  very 
high  antiquity.  Immediately  after  the  Deluge, 
Noah  planted  a  vineyard,  and  drank  of  the 
wine  even  to  intoxication,  (Gen.  ix.  20.)  Vines 
were  enumerated  by  Moses  as  among  the 
riches  of  the  promised  land,  (Deut.  viii.  8  ;) 
and  the  spies  who  were  sent  to  search  the 
land,  cut  down  so  large  a  bunch  of  grapes  in 
Eshcol,  that  they  carried  it  suspended  on  a  pole 
between  two  of  them,  (Num.  xiii.  23  ;)  the 
size  and  luxuriance  of  which  doubtless  asto- 
nished the  Jews,  who  had  been  accustomed  to 
see  only  the  small  grapes  of  Egypt.  Similar 
bunches,  we  are  assured  by  travellers,  have 
been  gathered  in  Hebron  in  modern  days. 
Very  numerous  are  the  Scripture  references  to 
the  vine,  which  we  have  not  space  to  detail. 

The  vineyards,  among  the  Jews,  were  gene- 
rally situated  on  the  south  side  of  a  hill,  or 
mountain,  which  was  often  cut  into  terraces  for 


154       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

the  purpose.  The  vintage  was  a  season  of 
great  rejoicing.  Very  often  the  vine  was,  and 
is  still,  trained  over  a  verandah  of  trellis-work, 
which  is  often  fixed  by  the  side  of  a  well, 
inviting  the  owner  and  his  family  to  gather 
beneath  its  grateful  shade.  This  beautifully 
illustrates  the  u  fruitful  bough  by  a  well," 
Gen.  xlix.  22,  the  emblem  of  the  rich  blessings 
which  were  promised  to  Joseph  and  his  descend- 
ants ;  and  that  delightful  representation  of  the 
effects  of  the  gospel  on  the  hearts  of  men,  pro- 
ducing universal  peace,  when  every  man  shall 
sit  "  under  his  vine  and  under  his  fig  tree  ;  and 
none  shall  make  them  afraid,"  Micah  iv.  4. 
The  Phocceans  first  carried  the  vine  into  the 
south  of  France  ;  the  Romans  planted  it  on  the 
banks  of  the  Rhine. 

It  is  indubitable,  that  formerly  there  were 
many  and  extensive  vineyards  in  this  country  ;* 
they  are  mentioned  in  the  earliest  Saxon 
charters,  as  well  as  in  Doomsday  Book.  William 
of  Malmesbury,  who  flourished  in  the  twelfth 
century,  mentions  a  sweet  and  palatable  wine, 
little  inferior  to  that  of  France,  which  was 
made  in  abundance  in  the  vale  of  Gloucester. 
It  is  stated  that,  at  Arundel  Castle,  in  Sussex, 
the  duke  of  Norfolk  had  a  vineyard,  of  which 
there  were  in  his  grace's  cellar,  in  1763,  about 
sixty  pipes  of  excellent  Burgundy.  About  the 
same  time,  the  hon.  Charles  Hamilton,  of 

*  There  is  evidence  to  prove  that  there  were  some  in  the 
year  A.D.  280,  and  Bede,  writing  in  731,  speaks  of  vineyards 
growing  in  several  places. 


THE  WARMER  TEMPERATE  ZONE.  155 

Painshill,  had  a  vineyard  which  succeeded  for 
many  years,  and  produced  excellent  champagne. 
In  many  countries,  as  in  Persia*  ftfCrete,  Min- 
grelia,  etc.,  the  attempt  is  mad£-to  keep  the 
grapes  on  the  vines  fresh  throughout  the 
greater  part  of  the  year,  which  is,  perhaps, 
possible  in  those  countries  on  account  of  the 
great  dryness  of  the  winter.  A  vineyard, 
associated  as  it  is  with  our  ideas  of  beauty 
and  plenty,  generally  disappoints  the  traveller. 
A  hop  garden  in  Kent  is  a  far  more  picturesque 
object.  In  France  and  Spain  the  vine  is  seldom 
allowed  to  grow  above  three  or  four  feet  high. 
But  in  Italy  is  found  the  true  vine  of  poetry, 
surrounding  the  stone  cottage  with  its  girdle, 
flinging  its  pliant  and  luxuriant  branches  over 
the  rustic  verandah,  and  twining  its  long  gar- 
land from  tree  to  tree.  The  number  of  varieties 
of  the  vine  is  extraordinary ;  but  the  most 
remarkable  fact  is,  that  the  same  variety  of 
vine  often  produces  two  different  kinds  of  wine, 
even  in  places  lying  close  to  each  other.  These 
differences  are,  indeed,  inexplicable  to  us ;  we 
only  are  sure  that  they  must  be  caused  by  the 
locality,  but  how,  we  know  not.  In  the  cata- 
logue of  the  Luxemburg  Garden,  at  Paris, 
fourteen  hundred  varieties  are  enumerated ; 
about  six  hundred  are  cultivated  in  the  gar- 
dens of  Geneva  ;  sixty-four  varieties  are  grown 
in  English  gardens  ;  one  hundred  and  nineteen 
in  Spain;  and  forty-one  in  the  regions  of  the 
Rhine. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  and  well  worthy  of 


156       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

our  attentive  notice,  that  many  of  those  plants 
most  valuable  to  man  are  precisely  those  most 
disposed  to/'^n  into  varieties.  This  is  remark- 
ably the  casein  one  of  the  most  useful  fruits  of 
the  temperate  zone,  the  apple,  of  which  Mr.  G. 
Don  enumerates  fourteen  hundred  varieties  cul- 
vated  in  gardens  ;  and  the  benevolent  intent  of 
such  an  arrangement  is  at  once  seen,  in  the 
great  extension  given  to  the  usefulness  of  the 
plant.  The  wild  apple,  or  crab,  is  a  harsh, 
sour  fruit,  but  from  it,  by  cultivation,  this  vast 
diversity  has  been  developed,  affording  a  combi- 
nation of  qualities  suited  to  a  variety  of  uses, 
and  thus  making  it  most  extensively  applicable 
as  an  article  of  food  and  luxury.  The  same 
author  gives  six  hundred  and  seventy-seven 
varieties  of  the  pear,  two  hundred  and  seventy- 
four  of  the  plum,  sixty  of  the  nectarine,  and 
nineteen  of  the  orange.  One  hundred  and 
sixty  varieties  of  yce  are  known  in  Ceylon 
alone.  It  seems  difficult  to  believe  that  the 
red  cabbage,  cauliflower,  savoy,  Brussels' 
sprouts,  and  white  cabbage,  have  all  sprung 
from  the  Brassica  oleracea,  as  found  on  our 
shores,  with  its  sea-green  leaves,  no  appearance 
of  a  head,  and  flowers  like  charlock — yet  such 
is  the  case.  The  rose,  again,  sports  into  four- 
teen hundred  varieties,  and  many  of  our 
favourite  garden  flowers,  which  delight  equally 
the  sight  and  smell,  are  similarly  disposed. 
How  bountiful  and  kind  a  provision  is  thus 
made  by  our  heavenly  Father,  to  minister  •  to 
the  wants,  comforts,  and  pleasures  of  his  crea- 


THE  WARMER  TEMPERATE  ZONE.  157 

tures  !  How  true  that,  though  we  have  sinned 
and  rebelled  against  him,  he  is  long-suffering 
and  fall  of  compassion,  and  that  "  his  tender 
mercies  are  over  all  his  works  !"  But  to  return. 
Immense  quantities  of  .grapes  are  dried  in  vari- 
ous countries,  and  made  into  raisins,  of  which 
no  less  than  240,042  cwt.  were  imported  into 
England  in  1848.  The  "  currants "  of  our 
grocers'  shops  are  the  dried  grapes  of  another 
variety  of  vine,  (the  black  corinth,)  grown 
chiefly  in  the  Ionian  Islands,  402,306  cwts. 
were  imported  in  1848. 

We  owe  many  of  our  best  fruits  and  sweetest 
flowers  to  that  part  of  Asia  which  lies  beneath 
the   warmer  temperate   zone.     In  the   fruitful 
valleys  of  Armenia,  south  of  the  chain  of  Cau- 
casus, are  found  whole  thickets  of  lemon,  pome- 
granate, pear,  and  cherry  trees.     Every  species 
of  fruit  cultivated  in  our  gardens  grows  there 
apparently  wild ;  but  whether  they  are  to  be  con- 
sidered as  truly  natives  of  the  soil,  or  as  being 
the  remains  of  very  ancient  gardens,  is  the  more 
difficult  to  determine,  as  this  is  just  the  very 
spot  which  appears  to  have  been  first  peopled 
by  the  descendants  of  Noah.    The  concurring 
testimony  of  both   sacred  and  profane  history 
leaves  us  no  room  to  doubt  that,  from  this  region, 
as    from    a  centre,   arts  and   civilization  were 
carried  to  the   other  regions  of  the  earth,  and 
among  them,  probably,  the  art  of  gardening  ;  for, 
though  we  are  unacquainted  with  the  original 
birthplace  of  most   of    our  cultivated  plants, 
history  informs   us,   that   some   of    the    most 
14 


158  1HE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

valuable  productions  of  our  gardens  were  first 
brought  into  Europe  from  that  fruitful  region 
between  the  Euphrates  and  the  Indus,  the 
Caspian  Sea  and  the  Persian  Gulf.  It  would 
be  both  pleasing  and  instructive  to  pursue  this 
subject,  but  a  hint  or  two  must  suffice. 

The  conquests  of  the  Eomans  first  made 
them  acquainted  with  the  fruits  of  the  east, 
and  then  they  spread  them  wherever  they 
directed  their  victorious  arms.  They  derived 
the  fig  from  Syria,  the  orange  and  citron  from 
Media,  the  peach  from  Persia,  the  apricot 
from  Epirus,  the  pomegranate  from  Africa, 
the  plum,  the  cherry,  and  the  pear,  from 
Armenia.  A  cherry  tree,  laden  with  fruit, 
adorned  the  triumph  of  Lucullus,  which  he 
had  brought  from  Pontus,  as  a  memorial  of  his 
conquest  of -that  province — a  sight  till  then 
unknown  to  the  inhabitants  of  Italy.  In  less 
than  a  century,  the  same  species  of  cherry 
was  common  in  France,  Germany,  and  Eng- 
land, where  the  conquerors  had  introduced  it. 
Whatever  are  the  evils  of  war  and  conquest — 
and  they  are  very  fearful — they  yet  contributed, 
in  the  early  stages  of  society,  to  diffuse  the 
knowledge  of  many  an  article,  and  custom,  and 
art,  which  have  tended  powerfully  to  promote 
the  advance  of  civilization.  The  attachment 
which  the  monks  manifested  to  gardening, 
during  what  are  called  the  dark  ages,  may  be 
regarded  as  another  cause  of  the  diffusion  of 
foreign  fruits  throughout  Europe.  In  our  own 
country,  and,  doubtless,  in  many  other  portions 


THE  WARMER  TEMPERATE  ZONE.  159 

of  the  continent,  before  and  long  after  the  con- 
quest, the  monks  appear  to  have  been  the  only 
gardeners ;  and  many  an  abbey  garden  yet 
remains,  though  in  ruins,  to  attest  that  the 
monks,  with  all  their  faults,  were  men  of  peace 
and  study,  and  were  doing  much  to  improve 
the  world,  while  the  warriors  were  spending 
their  lives  to  despoil  it. 

It  was  by  the  labours  of  missionaries  that 
European  vegetables  were  introduced  into  South 
America,  from  one  end  of  the  continent  to  the 
other;  and  the  same  course  is  now  pursued  by 
our  missionaries  in  the  South  Seas  and  in  South 
Africa.  Lastly,  commerce  has  very  largely 
contributed  to  the  comforts  and  welfare  of  man, 
by  gathering  around  his  dwelling  those  fruits 
which  have  been  scattered  by  Providence  over 
the  most  distant  parts  of  the  globe.  For  nearly 
a  century  and  a  half  this  country  has,  by  means 
of  her  widening  commerce,  steadily  proceeded 
in  collecting  from  every  clime  and  country  the 
fruits  and  flowers  indigenous  to  each  ;  and  has 
thus  provided,  even  for  the  poorer  classes,  com- 
forts and  luxuries  once  unknown  even  to  the 
wealthy  of  the  land  ;  while  it  has  improved  our 
tastes,  and  extended  our  resources  as  a  nation, 
to  a  degree  which  would  formerly  have  been 
considered  impossible.  To  the  same  commerce 
we  owe  the  potatoe  and  the  pine-apple  ;  the 
China  rose,  whose  flowers  cluster  around  the 
cottage  porch,  and  the  camellia,  which  adorns 
the  conservatory  j  the  tea,  coffee,  and  sugar, 
which  are  now  necessaries  of  life,  and  the 


160  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

cotton,  which  is  the  staple  of  our  manufactures. 
But  to  return  from  this  digression. 

The  moss  rose,  the  damask  rose,  the  cabbage 
rose,  and  the  French  rose,  which  are  universal 
favourites,  are  all  inhabitants  of  Persia  and 
Asia  Minor,  where  they  abound,  and  are  highly 
esteemed.  "  The  delight  of  the  east,  the  theme 
of  the  poet  in  all  ages,  the  praises  of  the  rose 
have  been  sung  in  the  language  of  every  nation 
where  it  is  known.  All  virtue,  all  loveliness, 
has  been  characterized  by  it ;  from  the  solemn 
personification  of  Scripture  of  Him  whom  '  the 
preacher7  called  '  the  Rose  of  Sharon,'  down  to 
the  simile  of  the  humblest  minstrel  that  ever 
*  touched  the  harp  of  poesy."  We  might  have 
expected  that  all  Asia,  between  30°  and  50°  lat., 
would  have  enjoyed  a  mild  climate  ;  such, 
however,  is  far  from  being  the  case,  on  account 
of  the  structure  of  the  continent,  which  has  the 
highest  table-lands  and  the  lowest  plains  on 
the  globe.  The  table-land  of  Thibet,  which  is 
not  cultivated,  is  very  sterile,  and  has  a  most 
unpropitious  climate :  frost,  snow,  and  sleet. 
beginning  early  in  September,  and  continuing, 
with  little  interruption,  until  May  :  snow,  in- 
deed, falls  every  month  in  the  year.  The  air 
is  always  dry,  because  in  winter  moisture  falls 
as  snow,  and  in  summer  is  quickly  evaporated 
by  the  intense  heat.  The  thermometer  some- 
times rises  to  144°  in  the  sun  ;  and  even  in  the 
winter  his  direct  rays  have  great  power  for  an 
houi  or  two,  so  that  a  variation  of  100°  has 
occurred  in  the  twenty-four  hours. 


THE  WARMER  TEMPERATE  ZONE.  161 

The  most  common  plants  are  a  species  of 
furze,  prickly  shrubs,  rhubarb,  various  species 
of  gooseberry  and  currant,  hyssop,  rose,  assafoe- 
tida,  etc.  Three  species  of  wheat,  three  of 
barley,  and  two  of  buck -wheat,  are  natives  of 
the  lofty  table-land,  but  European  grain  and 
fruits  can  only  be  cultivated  here  and  there,  in 
sheltered  spots.  Here,  also,  grows  the  Prangos 
pobularia,  an  umbelliferous  plant,  with  scented 
blossoms,  of  vast  value  as  fodder  for  sheep.  It 
is  capable  of  flourishing  on  the  most  inferior 
lands,  unfit  for  anything  else,  and  is  so  nutritious, 
that  sheep  will  become  fat  on  it  in  twenty  days. 
Another  valuable  property  it  possesses  is,  that  it 
is  fatal  to  the  liver-fluke,  (Pascwla  hepatica,) 
which,  in  England,  after  a  wet  autumn,  destroys 
some  thousands  of  sheep  by  the  rot,  a  disease 
which  has  hitherto  proved  incurable.  It  is  very 
hardy,  most  abundant  in  its  produce,  and  pro- 
mises, at  no  distant  day,  to  be  one  of  the  most 
valuable  kinds  of  winter  fodder  ever  brought 
into  cultivation. 

In  Japan,  and  the  eastern  countries  of  Asia, 
figs,  oranges,  pomegranates,  wheat,  oats,  rice, 
etc.,  are  exceedingly  productive.  Here,  too, 
Asiatic  species  of  buckthorn  and  honeysuckle 
are.  so  numerous,  as  to  give  a  peculiar  character 
to  the  vegetation.  Intermixed  with  these,  and 
with  roses,  are  thickets  of  azaleas,  of  dazzling 
brightness  and  beauty.  In  the  United  States, 
several  magnolias,  the  beautiful  tulip  tree, 
(Liriodendron,)  and  a  number  of  noble  species 
of  the  mimosa  tribe,  occur  in  this  zone,  one  of 


162       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

which,  Eobinia  pseudacacia,  is  very  commonly 
cultivated  in  this  country,  and  is  known  by  the 
name  of  thorn  acacia.     It  is  a  very  fast  growing 
tree,  and,  when  in  blossom,  is  very  elegant,  with 
its  abundant  bunches   of  white  sweet-scented 
blossoms,  resembling  those  of  the  laburnum, 
except  in  colour.     It  is  highly  valued  in  Ame- 
rica for  its  timber,  which  is  very  durable,  and  is 
often    employed   in    ship-building,   being    con- 
sidered scarcely  inferior  in  any  respect  to  Eng- 
lish oak.     Another  species,  (Eobinia  hispida,)  is 
an  exceedingly  ornamental  plant  in  shrubberies, 
growing  from  three  to  six  feet  high,  and  with 
beautiful  clusters  of  large  rose-coloured  blossoms. 
In    the  forests   of  the   Missouri,    above  St. 
Louis,  appear  thorny  roses,  which  ascend  to  the 
top  of  the  highest  trees,  and  adorn  them  with 
countless  red  .flowers.     The  autumnal  tints  of 
the  forests  in  the  middle  States  are  beautiful, 
and  of  endless  variety  ;  the  dark  leaves  of  the 
evergreen  pine,  the  red  foliage  of  the  maple,  the 
yellow  beech,  tfie  scarlet  oak,  and  the  purple 
•qyssa,  with  all  their  intermediate  tints,  ever 
changing  with  the  light  and  distance,  produce 
an    effect   at   sunset   that   would  astonish  the 
native  of  a  country  with  a  more  sober  coloured 
flora,   under    a   more    cloudy    sky.       Kalmias, 
hydrangeas,  rhododendrons,  and  azaleas,  with  a 
large  variety  of  timber  trees,  many  of  which  are 
little  known  in  this  country,  are  some  of  the 
most  interesting  plants  of  the  United  States  flora, 
which  is  nearly  twice  as  rich  in  species  as  that 
of  Britain. 


THE  WARMER  TEMPERATE  ZONE.  163 

Maize,  or  Indian  corn,  is  the  only  grain  indi- 
genous to  America,  and  it  is  a  native  there  only. 
Before  the  arrival  of  Europeans,  it  was  the  chief 
corn  plant  of  the  new  world,  and,  in  some  parts, 
(the  tropical  ones  especially,)  is  so, still.  It  thrives 
best  in  the  hottest  and  dampest  tropical  climates, 
where  it  sometimes  brings  forth  eight  hundred- 
fold, and  in  less  fertile  lands  three  hundred  to 
four  hundred-fold.  It  will  not  succeed  in  Ame- 
rica higher  than  40°  N.  lat.,  though  in  Europe  it 
reaches  45  J°  on  the  west  coast,  on  the  Rhine  49°, 
and  in  Prussia  52°.  From  the  low  mean  heat  of 
the  summer  in  England,  it  is  evident  its  cultiva- 
tion will  not  succeed  in  this  country,  although 
it  may  occasionally  ripen  ;  it  will,  however,  be  in 
the  recollection  of  many,  that  the  late  William 
Cobbett  was  very  enthusiastic  for  its  general 
culture  in  our  land.  In  Asia,  maize  is  exten- 
sively cultivated,  especially  in  India,  China, 
Japan,  Sumatra,  and  the  Philippine  Islands, 
having  been,  no  doubt,  introduced  from  Ame- 
rica, but  in  what  way  is  not  known.  So  gene- 
rally is  it  used  in  Mexico,  that,  at  the  beginning 
of  this  century,  above  1,600,000,000  pounds 
were  consumed  by  a  population  of  not  more  than 
5,000,000,  equal  to  320  pounds  a  year  for  each 
person.  A  considerable  quantity  is  consumed 
in  this  country.  In  1847,  3,608,312  quarters 
were  imported,  besides  1,448,837  cwts.  of 
Indian  corn  meal,  though  this  was  larger  than 
usual  on  account  of  the  distress  in  Ireland.  An 
ardent  spirit,  resembling  brandy,  is  obtained 
from  the  juice  of  the  stalks. 


164  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS, 

In  Chili  and  Patagonia,  an  elegant  and  tall 
tree  of  the  pine  tribe  (Araucaria  imbricata) 
forms  extensive  forests,  and  produces  cones  the 
size  of  a  child's  head,  which  supply  the  natives 
with  a  great  part  of  their  food.  It  is  said  that 
the  fruit  of  one  large  tree  will  maintain  eighteen 
persons  for  a  year.  A  very  remarkable  cir- 
cumstance attends  the  burning  down  of  such 
primeval  forests,  a  circumstance  which  not 
infrequently  takes  place  in  these  and  othei 
parts  of  America  on  both  sides  of  the  equa- 
tor. The  same  kind  of  trees  as  those  which 
formed  the  original  forest  never  re-appear7 
but  some  other  species,  which  had  previously 
been  strange  to  the  spot,  spring  up  instead  of 
them.  Thus,  in  Patagonia,  if  one  of  these 
pine  forests  be  burned,  the  ground  on  which  it 
grew  is  soon  covered  with  an  impenetrable 
brushwood  of  other  plants.  In  Chili,  the  vio- 
lently stinging,  but  beautiful  climbing  loasa, 
appears  first  in  these  burned  places,  bushes  grow 
afterwards,  and  then  comes  a  tree  grass,  eighteen 
feet  high,  of  which  the  Indians  make  their  nets. 
In  Pennsylvania,  when  the  ancient  forests  are 
burned,  they  are  succeeded  by  a  thick  underwood 
of  rhododendrons.  In  each  of  these  instances, 
the  primitive  forests  had  no  undergrowth,  and  in 
each,  also,  the  kind  of  plant  which  appears  as  a 
successor  is  constant,  according  to  the  character 
of  the  forest  destroyed,  and  the  country  where 
situate.  A  somewhat  similar  circumstance 
occurred  in  this  country  after  the  great  fire  in 
London,  in  1666  ;  a  great  quantity  of  Sisym- 


THE  WARMER  TEMPERATE  ZONE.  165 

brium  irio,  or  London  rocket,  sprang  up  all  over 
the  ruins,  though  previously  it  was  a  very  rare 
plant,  and  is  so  now. 

In  New  Zealand,  many  singular  and  elegant 
plants  are  found.  Noble  trees  form  immense 
forests,  sixty  of  which  yield  timber  of  the  finest 
quality,  and  many  are  of  kinds  to  which  we 
have  nothing  similar.  Oaks,  birches,  and  wil- 
lows, are  entirely  absent ;  but  there  are  some 
species  of  the  fir  tribe  and  beech  peculiar  to 
the  country.  The  New  Zealand  flax  (Plwr- 
mium  tenax)  is  found  abundantly  on  the  moun- 
tains and  plains,  and  great  quantities  are  ex- 
ported to  this  country,  where  it  is  much  used, 
especially  for  twine,  its  fibre  being  stronger 
than  that  of  ordinary  flax.  One  hundred  and 
forty  species  of  ferns,  and  a  species  of  fuchsia, 
together  with  a  metrosideros  with  crimson 
blossoms,  adorn  the  country.  This  latter  grows 
to  a  very  great  size,  and  sends  shoots  from  its 
trunk  and  branches  to  the  ground,  which 
become  so  massive  that  they  support  the  old 
stem,  which  seems  to  die  ;  it  is,  in  fact,  an 
enormous  epiphyte,  growing  to,  instead  of  from 
the  ground. 

In  Van  Diemen's  Land,  eucalyptus  trees  of 
enormous  dimensions  abound,  as  in  Australia,  but 
of  still  greater  height,  many  towering  to  a  height 
much  exceeding  that  of  the  Monument.  One 
prostrate  tree  was  measured,  which  was  two  hun- 
dred feet  to  the  first  branch,  a  second  cut  into 
rails  was  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  long,  a  third 
wa3  so  large  that  it  could  not  be  cut  into  lengths 


166       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

for  splitting.  When  the  Emeu  Bay  forest  was 
surveyed,  one  acre  was  found  to  contain  2,384 
trees,  and  another  1,976.  Many  of  these  trees 
are  forty,  fifty,  or  fifty-five  feet  in  circum- 
ference. Of  one  of  these,  fifty -five  and  a  half  feet 
round,  Mr.  Backhouse  says  :  "  My  companions 
spoke  to  each  other  when  at  the  opposite  side  of 
the  tree  to  myself,  and  their  voices  sounded 
so  distant,  that  I  concluded  they  had  inad- 
vertently left  me  to  see  some  other  object,  and 
immediately  called  to  them.  They,  in  reply, 
remarked  the  distant  sound  of  my  voice,  and 
asked  if  I  were  behind  the  tree !  When  the 
road  through  this  forest  was  forming,  a  man, 
who  had  only  about  two  hundred  yards  to  go 
from  one  company  of  the  work-people  to  an- 
other, lost  himself ;  he  called,  and  was  repeat- 
edly answered,  but  getting  further  astray,  his 
voice  became  more  indistinct  till  it  ceased  to  be 
heard,  and  he  perished."  Tree  ferns  grow  here 
in  all  their  glory,  most  beautiful  with  their 
princely  crests  of  fronds,  many  of  which  are 
thirteen  feet  in  length.  Acacias,  epacris,  bank- 
sias,  grass  trees,  and  asters,  are  abundant,  and 
show  its  close  affinity  with  the  vegetation  of 
Australia. 

5.  The  Colder  Temperate  Zone  includes  that 
portion  of  both  hemispheres  which  lies  between 
45°  and  58°.  This  zone  embraces  the  British 
Isles,  France,  Belgium,  Holland,  Switzerland, 
Prussia,  Austria,  Germany,  Denmark,  and 
southern  Kussia  ;  in  Asia — northern  Tartary, 
Mongolia,  southern  Siberia,  and  Kamschatka ; 


THE  COLDER  TEMPERATE  ZONE.  167 

in  America — part  of  Columbia,  Newfoundland, 
and  the  British  territory  ;  the  south  of  Pata- 
gonia, Terra  del  Fuego,  and  the  Falkland 
Islands.  The  mean  annual  temperature  is 
between  42°  and  53°.  Deciduous  trees  are  a 
characteristic  feature  of  this  zone  in  Europe,  as 
evergreen  ones  were  of  the  last.  The  chief 
forests  are  composed  of  oak,  elm,  beech,  pine, 
fir,  lime,  etc.,  while  willows  of  many  species 
abound  in  the  moist  and  marshy  lands.  The 
oak  is  found  as  far  north  as  63°  at  Drontheim, 
in  Norway  ;  on  the  confines  of  Asia  it  ceases 
to  grow  at  57-J0  lat.,  and  on  the  east  of  Asia 
it  has  its  northern  limits  on  the  banks  of  the 
Argoun  51^°  N.  lat.,  eight  hundred  miles 
nearer  to  the  equator  than  its  limits  in  western 
Europe. 

The  oak  is  the  most  valuable  timber  tree  of 
this  zone  for  strength,  durability,  and  general 
usefulness.  One,  which  was  felled  in  1810  for 
the  use  of  the  navy,  contained  2,426  cubic  feet 
of  sound  and  convertible  timber.  The  bark 
was  estimated  at  six  tons  ;  five  men  were  em- 
ployed twenty  days  in  cutting  down  and  ship- 
ping it,  and  two  sawyers  were  engaged  for  five 
months  in  cutting  it  up.  The  whole  produce  of 
the  tree  when  brought  to  market  was  nearly 
£GOO.  It  will  not  flourish  in  tropical  climates. 
Bishop  Heber  mentions  that,  in  the  Botanic 
Garden  at  Calcutta,  he  saw  what  excited  a  me- 
lancholy kind  of  interest — a  little  wretched  oak, 
kept  alive  with  difficulty  under  a  sky  and  in  a 
temperature  so  perpetually  stimulating,  that  no 


168       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

time  was  allowed  it  to  shed  its  leaves,  or  recruit 
its  powers  by  hybernation. 

We  have  not  space  now  to  enter  into  details 
respecting  our  other  forest  trees  ;  we  may  just 
state,  that  the  birch  ceases  on  the  coast  of  Nor- 
way at  71°;  the  beech  at  58°;  the  sycamore  and 
the  ash  at  63°;  the  lime  occurs  in  Kussia  at  60°; 
the  elm  and  maple  at  57°.  This,  too,  is  the 
region  of  our  corn  plants.  Wheat  does  not 
succeed  beyond  63°  N.  lat.,  and  in  Russia  not 
beyond  60°;  in  Kamschatka  the  limit  is  51°. 
On  the  east  of  America,  corn  does  not  extend 
beyond  52°.  Barley  sometimes  ripens  in  fa- 
vourable summers  as  high  as  70°  in  Norway. 
Nor  does  the  cultivation  of  our  corn  plants 
succeed  better  in  the  torrid  zone  than  in  polar 
regions,  except  in  elevated  spots,  where  the  heat 
is  moderated  by  the  altitude.  We  know  nothing 
respecting  the  original  place  of  growth  of  the 
cerealia ;  though  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that  their  cultivation  is  coeval  with  the 
existence  of  man  upon  the  earth.  Within  the 
temperate  zones  their  cultivation  is  all  but 
universal,  and  in  the  more  favourable  situa- 
tions, such  as  Egypt,  etc.,  its  produce  is  very 
great.  Humboldt  mentions  wheat  plants  »m 
Mexico  which  sent  up  forty,  sixty,  or  seventy 
stalks,  the  ears  of  which  were  almost  equally 
well  filled,  and  contained  one  hundred  to  one 
hundred  and  twenty  grains  each. 

Some  of  the  distinguishing  plants  of  this 
zone,  in  Europe,  are  the  cruciform  plants ;  such 
as  the  mustard,  cress,  wall-flower,  stock,  cab- 


THE  COLDER  TEMPERATE  ZONE.      169 

bage,  turnip,  sea-kale,  candy-tuft,  radish,  etc. ; 
the  umbelliferous  tribe,  as  carrots,  carra- 
ways,  parsley,  parsnip,  celery,  hemlock,  etc.  ; 
the  CaryopJiillece,  a  class  including  the  pink, 
carnation,  lychnis,  catchfly,  chickweed,  etc.  ; 
the  Campanulas,  and  a  division  of  the  composite 
plants,  including  endive,  hawkweed,  dandelion, 
sowthistle,  and  a  great  variety  of  plants  of 
a  similar  structure.  The  extensive  heaths 
already  alluded  to,  covered  with  our  common 
heath  or  ling,  (Calluna  vulgaris^)  form  a 
remarkable  feature  in  the  European  part  of 
this  region.  In  that  part  of  Asia  which  lies 
in  the  colder  temperate  zone,  vast  plains  cha- 
racterize it,  called  steppes  ;  these  are  generally 
barren  tracts,  often  strongly  impregnated  with 
salt,  and  abounding  in  salt  lakes  and  pools, 
with  a  stunted  and  scattered  vegetation.  Here 
and  there  are  more  fertile  spots,  where  trees 
and  food  plants  grow,  but  they  are  like  the 
cases  of  the  desert.  Species  of  saltwort,  (Salsola,) 
tamarisk,  sea  lavender,  (Statice^  liquorice, 
vetches,  and  wormwood,  are  among  the  pre- 
vailing steppe  plants. 

In  that  portion  of  the  southern  hemisphere 
belonging  to  this  zone,  the  southern  part  of 
Patagonia,  the  Falkland  Isles,  Terra  del  Fuego, 
Kerguelen's  Land,  and  Prince  Edward's  Island, 
with  a  few  other  very  small  detached  islands, 
are  all  the  land.  On  these  vegetation  rapidly 
diminishes  as  they  approximate  to  the  antarctic 
circle ;  and  it  is  a  well-ascertained  fact,  that 
the  temperature  decreases  much  more  rapidly 
15 


170       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

from  the  equator  towards  the  south  pole  than 
towards  the  north.  Vegetation  decreases  as 
the  latitude  increases,  till  at  length  utter  deso- 
lation reigns.  This  is  partly  owing  to  the 
want  of  heat  in  summer  and  more  than  to  the 
greater  cold  in  winter.  In  high  northern  lati- 
tudes, the  power  of  the  summer  sun  is  so  great 
as  to  melt  the  pitch  between  the  planks  of  the 
vessels  ;  while,  in  corresponding  southern  lati- 
tudes, the  thermometer  does  not  rise  above  14° 
(18°  below  the  freezing  point)  at  noon,  in  a 
season  corresponding  to  our  August.  Sand- 
wich Land,  in  a  latitude  corresponding  to  the 
north  of  Scotland,  is  perpetually  covered  with 
many  fathoms  of  snow.  The  south  Shetland 
Isles  have  but  one  flowering  plant,  a  grass, 
(Aim  antarctica^)  and  are  no  less  ice-bound 
than  the  last ;  while  the  Shetland  Isles,  in  the 
north  of  Scotland,  in  an  equally  high  latitude, 
are  both  inhabited  and  cultivated.  South 
Georgia,  in  the  same  latitude  as  Yorkshire,  but 
south,  is  always  clad  in  frozen  snow,  and  pro- 
duces only  a  few  lichens,  mosses,  and  wild 
burnet ;  while  Iceland,  ten  degrees  nearer  the 
pole  in  the  northern  hemisphere,  has  eight 
hundred  and  seventy  species,  more  than  half  ot 
which  are  flowering  plants.  But  a  few  degrees 
makes  a  great  difference  in  the  southern  hemi- 
sphere. Terra  del  Fuego,  only  six  degroes 
nearer  the  equator  than  the  frozen  south  Shet- 
land, is  clad  with  dense  forests  of  winter's  baric 
and  beech.  Species  of  arbutus,  myrtle,  bar- 
berry, currant,  and  fuchsia  ;  and  calceolarias. 


THE  COLDER  TEMPERATE  ZONE.      171 

violets,  crowfoots,  plants  of  the  cruciform  and 
pink  tribes,  thrift,  and  celery,  are  among  the 
most  conspicuous  of  the  herbaceous  plants. 

It  is  singular  that,  in  this  distant  island,  there 
are  a  greater  number  of  plants  identical  with 
those  of  the  British  isles  than  in  any  other 
country  of  the  southern  hemisphere  :  thirty- 
three  flowering  plants,  and  forty-eight  mosses, 
with  nearly  all  the  lichens,  being  common  to 
both,  though  principally  absent  from  the  inter- 
mediate latitudes.  On  the  Falkland  Islands, 
though  in  a  lower  latitude,  not  a  tree  is  to  be 
seen,  and  the  only  large  shrufo,  Veronica  ellip- 
tica,  is  very  rare.  Two  plants,  however,  are 
peculiar  to  these  islands.  One  of  these,  the 
balsam  bog,  (Bolax  globaria^)  is  an  umbellife- 
rous plant,  but  of  very  peculiar  habit.  It 
grows  in  tufted  and  very  firm  hemispherical 
masses,  of  a  yellow  green  colour,  often  four 
feet  high,  and  as  many  in  diameter  ;  a  strong- 
smelling  resinous  substance  exudes  from  it, 
perceptible  at  a  distance.  The  tussack  grass 
\Festuca  fldbellatd)  is  a  still  more  singular 
plant,  but  yet  the  most  useful  in  the  islands. 
Each  tussack  is  a  separate  plant,  occupying 
about  two  square  yards  of  ground.  It  forms  a 
hillock  of  matted  roots,  rising  straight  and 
solitary  out  of  the  soil,  often  six  feet  high,  and 
four  or  five  in  diameter,  from  the  top  of  which 
issues  a  thick  grassy  foliage  of  blades,  six  feet 
long,  drooping  on  all  sides,  and  forming  with 
the  leaves  of  the  adjacent  plants  an  arch  over 
the  ground  beneath  it,  which  affords  shelter  to 


172       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

sea  lions,  penguins,  and  petrels.  Cattle  are 
exceedingly  fond  of  this  grass,  which  yields 
annually  a  much  greater  supply  of  excellent 
fodder  than  the  same  extent  of  ground  would 
do  either  of  common  grass  or  clover. 

5.  The  Sub-arctic  Zone  stretches,  from  58° 
lat.  to  the  arctic  circle,  and  its  average  mean 
temperature  is  between  39°  and  42°  Fahr.,  but 
this  varies  exceedingly  in  different  localities. 
It  embraces  in  the  northern  hemisphere,  Nor- 
way, Sweden,  Finland,  the  north  of  Russia, 
Iceland,  part  of  Siberia,  the  more  northerly 
portion  of  North  ^America,  and  the  south  of 
Greenland  ;  in  the  southern  hemisphere,  only  a 
few  barren  and  small  islands  extend  into  this 
^one.  It  is  the  region  of  the  firs  and  willows  ; 
the  beech,  oak,  and  pine,  or  Scotch  fir,  will  not 
flourish  within  it,  or  rather  not  beyond  60° 
N.  lat.,  though  on  the  western  coast  of  Norway, 
under  peculiar  circumstances,  the  pine  has 
been  found  as  far  as  70°  N.  lat.  In  the  interior, 
the  noble  fir  appears  in  its  place.  Prodigious 
forests  of  these  are  spread  over  the  mountains 
of  Norway  and  Sweden ;  and  in  European 
Kussia  alone,  200,000,000  acres  are  clothed 
with  pines  and  firs  alone,  or  occasionally  mixed 
with  willow,  poplars,  and  alders.  In  very 
many  places,  on  both  the  Swedish  and  Norwe- 
gian mountains,  these  forests  are  not  accessible, 
and  they  are  of  value  only  when  situated  near 
a  river,  or  an  arm  of  the  sea.  The  Gulf  of 
Bothnia  is  surrounded  by  one  vast,  contiguous, 
unbroken  forest,  as  old  as  the  world,  and  con^ 


THE  SUB- ARCTIC  ZONE.  173 

sisting  chiefly  of  pines.  From  these  countries 
we  derive  our  best  deal  timber  ;  red  (or  yellow) 
deal,  which  is  most  valued,  being  the  produce 
of  the  Scotch  fir,  (Pinus  sylvestris ;)  the  white 
deal  comes  from  the  spruce  fir,  (Pinus  dbies.} 
When  the  markets  of  the  Baltic  were  closed 
during  the  war,  an  enterprising  individual  con- 
ceived the  daring  idea  of  turning  the  immense 
forests  of  pines  on  the  mountains  of  Switzer- 
land to  the  purposes  of  commerce.  This  he 
actually  effected  by  contriving  an  immense 
trough,  formed  of  25,000  pine  trees,  six  feet 
broad,  and  from  three  to  six  feet  deep,  and 
44,000  English  feet  in  length.  Along  this, 
constantly  kept  moist,  the  pines  descended 
from  the  mountains  into  the  lake  of  Lucerne,  a 
distance  of  between  eight  and  nine  miles. 

The  larger  pines,  which  were  about  one 
hundred  feet  long,  ran  through  the  space  in 
about  six  minutes.  The  markets  of  the 
Baltic  having  been  once  more  opened  by  the 
peace,  the  speculation  was  abandoned  as 
unprofitable.  Turpentine  and  tar  are  also 
two  important  products  of  the  fir  tribe.  The 
former  is  the  thick,  glutinous  sap,  which  is 
abundantly  poured  out  when  the  trees  are 
pierced  near  the  ground.  When  distilled, 
spirits  of  turpentine  come  over,  while  the 
solid  residuum  is  resin.  392,942  cwts.  of 
turpentine  were  imported  in  1848.  Tar  is 
procured  by  heating  billets  of  the  wood  in  a 
kind  of  rude  oven  ;  the  tar  oozes  out,  and  is 
collected  in  a  reservoir  below.  The  ancient 
15* 


174       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

Greeks  extracted  their  tar  in  precisely  the 
same  way  as  do  the  Bothnians  at  this  day. 
150,888  barrels  of  tar  were  imported  in  1848, 
each  barrel  containing  thirty-one  and  a  half 
gallons.  The  climate  and  productions  of 
Norway  and  Sweden  cannot  be  taken,  how- 
ever, as  a  fair  specimen  of  the  vegetation  of 
this  zone  ;  as,  from  their  peninsular  character, 
they  enjoy  a  much  warmer  temperature  than 
almost  any  other  country  within  its  limit. 
Even  here,  however,  the  apple  ceases  at  63^°, 
the  cherry  at  63°,  and  the  pear  at  62°.  The 
vegetation  of  Iceland  in  the  meadows  and 
pastures  is  much  the  same  as  our  own  ;  there 
is,  however,  a  total  want  of  trees,  for  the  birch 
and  alder,  though  abundant,  attain  but  a  small 
height.  Corn  is  cultivated  to  a  very  trifling 
extent,  often  not  at  all  for  a  long  series  of 
years,  for,  towards  the  end  of  summer,  the 
weather  is  so  changeable  that  the  grain  seldom 
ripens.  The  sea  pea  (which  we  have  already 
noticed)  is  used  as  an  article  of  food,  and  they 
are  said  to  be  very  well  flavoured.  The  prin- 
cipal vegetables,  such  as  cauliflower,  potatoe, 
turnip,  etc.,  succeed.  Many  of  the  sea- weeds 
are  collected,  and  used  as  food.  The  Iceland 
moss  (Cetraria  Islandicd)  is  also  gathered  for 
food ;  it  grows  in  great  quantities,  and  is 
collected  from  the  same  grounds  every  three 
years.  The  bitterness  of  the  plant  is  extracted 
by  soaking  it  in  water,  and  it  is  then  eaten,  gene- 
rally boiled  with  milk ;  a  kind  of  bread  is  also 
made  of  it.  The  time  of  gathering  the  Iceland 


THE  ARCTIC  ZONE.  175 

moss  is  like  a  merry  harvest-time.  In  Siberia, 
vast  forests '  of  firs  appear  ;  while  in  Kams- 
chatka,  similar  forests  are  found  of  the  birch. 
Many  of  the  smaller  plants  are  similar  to  our 
own.  The  juniper  abounds,  and  the  dog-rose, 
the  Scotch  rose,  the  red  currant,  the  hawthorn, 
the  white  poplar,  the  mountain  ash,  and  others, 
are  found  wild  in  Kamschatka  as  well  as  in  our 
own  country.  On  the  shores  of  Hudson's  Bay, 
it  is  said  no  trees  are  found  north  of  60°. 

7.  The  Arctic  Zone  embraces  a  still  smaller 
belt  than  the  sub-arctic  zone.  It  extends 
from  the  arctic  circles  to  72°  lat.  Its  mean 
temperature  is  not  certainly  known  ;  it  may 
be  at  the  maximum  35°  Fahr. ;  but  in  the 
colder  part  of  this  zone  it  is  much  lower,  often 
below  the  freezing  point.  It  embraces  Lapland, 
the  Loffoden  Islands,  Neva  Zembla,  and  the 
extreme  north  of  Siberia,  part  of  Greenland, 
and  the  extreme  north  of  North  America,  of 
which  very  little  is  known  ;  and  in  the  south- 
ern hemisphere  a  few  islands  in  68°  lat.,  of 
whose  vegetation  we  know  nothing,  if,  indeed, 
they  have  any.  As  we  have  witnessed  the 
luxuriance,  abundance,  and  splendour  of  the 
plants  in  the  tropical  parts  of  our  globe,  so  we 
find,  as  we  approach  the  poles,  the  reverse  is 
the  case.  A  green  turf  is  not  quite  wanting, 
though  only  scantily  seen  ;  while  vast  and 
dreary  tracts  are  covered  with  lichens,  and 
others  are  occupied  with  immense  forests 
of  fir. 

The  lichens  are  some  of  the  first  vegetable 


176       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

forms  seen  below  the  limit  of  perpetual  snow, 
either  in  altitude  or  latitude.  They  will  grow 
almost  everywhere  where  they  can  obtain 
moisture,  even  on  rocks,  trees,  or  the  barest 
ground.  2,400  species  are  known,  and  no 
plants  are  more  widely  diffused.  Some  pro- 
duce brilliant  dyes — red,  orange,  and  brown  j 
and  one,  (Gyropliom^)  the  "  tripe  de  roche"  of 
arctic  travellers,  is  employed  in  these  regions 
as  a  miserable  substitute  for  food.  Mosses, 
too,  accompany  lichens  all  over  the  world, 
but  especially  in  temperate  climes  ;  and  out  of 
1,100  known  species,  a  great  part  inhabit  this 
zone,  and  constitute  a  large  portion  of  the 
vegetation.  A  number  of  flowering  plants, 
some  of  pretty  and  elegant  forms,  many  of 
which  are  the  same  as  those  which  grow  on 
the  alpine  heights  of  England,  Scotland,  and 
middle  Europe,  here  grow  in  the  meadows  and 
down  to  the  sea  level.  They  are  chiefly  of 
very  low  growth  and  large  flowers.  Agricul- 
ture is  not  altogether  stopped,  for,  in  the  Scan- 
dinavian peninsula,  barley  and  rye  are 
cultivated  ;  barley  as  high  as  70° ;  rye,  on 
the  western  side,  to  64°,  on  the  eastern  to  65° 
or  66°.  The  dry  and  barren  fields  are  covered 
with  incredible  quantities  of  lichens,  among 
which  the  rein-deer  moss  (Cladonia  rangiferina) 
covers  the  most  extensive  surfaces  with  a 
matting,  over  which  it  is  very  fatiguing  to  travel 
in  summer,  when  the  plants  are  dried  up  by 
the  perpetual  sunshine. 

In  the  elevated  regions  of  Lapland,  the  trees 


THE  POLAR  ZONE.  177 

which  are  found  to  approach  nearest  the  limit 
of  perpetual  snow  are  the  dwarf  birch,  (Betula 
nana,)  and  the  dwarf  willow,  ($Q&c  herbacea,) 
though  they  are  so  small  that  they  can  scarcely 
be  denominated  trees.  The  dwarf  birch  seldom 
exceeds  two  or  threeJfeet  in  height,  though  it 
is  said  that  at  the  island  of  Hammerfest,  lat. 
70°  40',  in  the  sheltered  hollows,  it  rises  to  the 
height  of  a  man.  In  Lapland,  at  the  height  of 
two  thousand  five  hundred  feet,  it  finds  just 
sufficient  warmth  about  the  end  of  June  to  put 
forth  three  leaves  from  each  bud,  which,  in  a 
few  weeks,  wither  and  fall  off  again  ;  but  this 
feeble  effort  suffices  to  preserve  the  life  of  the 
plant.  In  Asiatic  Siberia^  north  of  60°,  the 
ground  is  perpetually  frozen  at  a  very  small 
depth  below  the  surface  ;  a  temperature  of  70° 
below  zero  is  not  uncommon,  and  in  some  in- 
stances it  has  been  120°.  Then  it  is  fatal  to 
animal  life,  especially  if  accompanied  with  wind. 
In  Nova  Zembla,  the  vegetation  is  so  stunted 
that  it  barely  covers  the  ground.  The  woody 
plants,  such  as  the  dwarf  birch  and  the  reticu- 
lated willow,  (Saliv  reticulata,)  with  a  very  few 
berry-bearing  shrubs,  trail  along  the  ground, 
never  rising  more  than  an  inch  or  two  above  it. 
The  woolly-leaved  willow  (Salia  lanatd)  is  the 
giant  of  these  northern  forests,  though  it  never 
grows  more  than  five  inches  above  the  surface, 
while  its  trailing  stem,  ten  or  twelve  feet  long, 
lies  hid  among  the  moss. 

8.   The  Polar  Zone,  including  all  above  72° 
of  N.  lat.  to  the  pole.     No  trees  or  bushes  grow 


178  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

in  these  cold  regions,  where  cultivation  of  &JIJT 
plant  for  food  is  impossible,  for  the  mean  tem- 
perature is  far  below  the  freezing  point,  and 
the  summer  lasts  only  from  four  to  six  weeks. 
Here  the  year  is  divided  into  one  long  intensely 
cold  night  arid  one  bright  and  fervid  day,  which 
quickly  brings  to  maturity  the  scanty  vegetation. 
Spitzbergen  and  the  north  of  Greenland  are  the 
chief  lands  included  in  it.  Most  of  this  zone  is 
covered  with  perpetual  ice  and  snow,  on  which  no 
vegetable,  except  the  singular  red  snow  fungust 
is  ever  found ;  and  even  on  the  few  portions  of 
land  left  uncovered  by  these,  extreme  poverty 
is  their  character,  whole  tracts  being  entirely 
destitute  of  vegetation,  and  in  others,  the  little, 
and  sometimes  very  pretty  plants,  grow  in  turf- 
like  patches.  Some  of  the  plants  are  peculiar 
to  the  polar  regions,  others  grow  even  in  our 
own  country.  Some  of  the  principal  plants  are 
species  of  saxifrage,  poppy,  rush,  scurvy-grass, 
ranunculus,  cotton-grass,  willow,  etc. 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ALTITUDE. 


CHAPTER    V. 

Influence  of  altitude— Regions— Divine  wisdom  and  benevo- 
lence—Poisonous plants— The  resurrection. 

THOSE  who  have  ascended  mountains,  or  those 
who  have  perused  the  narratives  of  the  ascent 
of  Mont  Blanc,  the  Peak  of  TenerifFe,  or  similar 
elevations,  must  be  well  aware,  that,  be  the 
temperature  of  the  country  at  its  base  ever  so 
warm,  a  sensible  diminution  of  heat  is  felt  as 
we  rise  from  the  plain  ;  and  in  proportion  to 
the  height  attained  the  heat  diminishes,  till  at 
length  an  elevation  is  reached,  at  which,  even 
in  the  height  of  summer,  water  remains  per- 
petually frozen,  and  nought  but  snow  and  ice 
cover  the  ground.  The  point  at  which  this 
phenomenon  first  occurs  is  called  the  snow  line, 
or  limit  of  perpetual  snow.  This  limit  is  found 
at  various  heights,  according  to  the  latitude, 
nearness  to  the  sea,  and  whatever  else  may 
affect  the  general  climate  of  the  place. 

In  the  Himalayan  Mountains  of  Asia,  and 
the  Andes  of  South  America,  the  snow  line  is 
found  at  an  elevation  of  15,000  to  17,000  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea  ;  on  Cotopaxi,  at 
15,G46  feet;  on  Chimborazo,  at  16,000  feet. 
More  northerly,  we  find  it,  on  Mount  Ararat, 


180       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

13,441  feet ;  on  the  mountains  of  Caucasus, 
10,602  feet ;  on  the  Appenines,  9,231  feet  ; 
on  the  Swiss  Alps,  8,500  feet ;  on  the  moun- 
tains of  Norway  and  Sweden,  5,019  feet ;  in 
Iceland,  2,642  feet ;  at  the  North  Cape,  2,275 
feet ;  while,  near  the  pole  itself,  it  is  nearly  on 
the  sea  level,  snow  and  ice  being  there  per- 
petual. There  are,  however,  a  few  partial  ex- 
ceptions to  this  rule.  The  volcano  of  Arequipa, 
which  rises  to  an  elevation  of  18,000  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  sea,  shows  but  a  very  little 
snow  on  one  side  of  its  highest  point.  In  the 
Himalayan  Mountains,  in  the  Nutro  Pass,  at  a 
height  of  16,840  feet,  there  is  no  permanent 
snow.  The  whole  western  part  of  the  Himalayas 
is  as  high  as  from  12,000  to  18,000  feet,  and 
yet  but  a  very  little  snow  is  seen  there,  and 
the  vegetation  ascends  almost  as  high  as  16,000 
feet.  It  will  be  evident,  therefore,  on  a  moment's 
consideration,  that  even  at  the  equator  itself, 
in  the  midst  of  the  torrid  zone,  a  mountain 
of  sufficient  height  may  have  every  variety  of 
climate  at  its  foot,  graduating  into  temperate  in 
its  higher  regions,  and  this,  by  degrees,  passing 
into  arctic,  and  even  a  polar  temperature  at 
its  summit. 

Our  survey  of  the  vegetation  of  these  various 
climes  will  have  prepared  us  already  to  antici- 
pate most  of  those  which  distinguish  the  various 
regions  which  succeed  one  another  as  we  ascend. 
Our  notice  of  each  will,  therefore,  be  very  brief. 
We  may  just  remark,  that  in  some  of  the 
Andes,  the  whole  of  these  regions  may  be  seen 


REGIONS.  181 

exemplified  OR  a  single  mountain,  which  thus 
epitomizes,  in  a  manner,  the  flora  of  the  whole 
earth. 

On  mountains  situated  at  a  distance  from  the 
equator,  the  vegetation  at  their  base  will  be 
the  same  as  that  of  the  zone  in  which  they  are 
situate  :  thus,  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe,  in  the 
sub-tropical  zone,  is  at  foot  well  cultivated, 
and  produces  date  palms,  olives,  vines,  plan- 
tains, etc.,  extending  to  a  height  of  1,200  to 
1,800  feet.  The  second  zone  produces  laurels, 
arid  many  plants  with  showy  flowers,  and 
reaches  the  height  of  5,760  feet  above  the  sea. 
The  third  zone  is  the  region  of  pines,  (Abietinos^ 
extending  2,550  feet  further.  Above  this  is  a 
tract  of  broom,  and  then  one  of  grasses  and 
cryptogamic  plants,  scantily  covering  the  heaps 
of  lava.  Tournefort  also  mentions  of  Mount 
Ararat,  that  at  its  foot  were  the  plants  ot 
Armenia,  above  these  such  as  were  natives 
of  A  climate  like  that  of  France,  higher  still 
he  was  surrounded  with  Swedish  species,  and 
at  the  summit  with  polar  plants. 

1.  We  may  characterize  the  region  from  the 
level  of  the  sea  to  an  altitude  of  1,900  feet,  (in 
the  equatorial  zone,)  as  that  of  palms  and 
bananas  corresponding  with  the  equinoctial  zone. 
Here  we  find  gigantic  fig  trees,  the  innumerable 
offshoots  of  which  form  quite  a  forest,  which  yet 
remain  in  the  closest  union  with  the  parent 
tree.  Wherever  there  is  a  good  rich  soil,  palms, 
bananas,  cardamoms,  and  plants  of  the  ginger 
tribe  abound  ;  and,  in  America,  the  cereus  form 
16 


182  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

of  cacti,  and  the  cactus-like  euphorbias,  which 
we  have  before  described,  begin  here/  ~-As  the 
height  increases,  the  palms  become  fewer,  the 
bananas  diminish  in  size,  the  ginger  tribe  dis- 
appear, but  the  orehideae  and  flowering  parasites 
become  more  numerous,  and  we  approach — 

2.  The  region  of  tree  ferns  and  figs,  from  an 
altitude  of  1,900  feet  to  3,600  or  3,800  feet,  and 
answering  in  some  measure  to  the  tropical  zone. 
The  tree  ferns  will  not  flourish,  however,  but  in 
a  very  damp  climate  ;  in  barren  soil  or  a  dry 
atmosphere  they  are  quite  wanting.      We  have 
already  attempted  to  give  some  account  of  this 
singularly  beautiful  tribe  of  plants,  which  cap- 
tivate the  eye  of  every  traveller  in  those  regions. 
On  the  American  mountains,  the  cinchonce  (or 
trees  yielding    Peruvian    bark)  here   begin  to 
appear,  though  they  extend  upwards  through 
the   two  next  regions  as   well.     This  plant  is 
of  very    great  importance  in  medicine,  about 
200,000  pounds   being  annually  imported  into 
this    country.     Quinine    is    extracted  from   it. 
Various  species  of  fig,  pepper,  passion  flowers  as 
tall  and  as  thick  as  our  oaks,  bread  fruit,  calce- 
olarias, etc.,  abound  in  this  region. 

3.  The   region  of  the    myrtles  and  laurels, 
from   3,800  feet  to  5,700  feet.     Here  myrtles, 
camellias,  magnolias,  heaths,  and  acacias  abound, 
and  form  some  of  the  most  striking  features  in 
the  vegetation.     The  cultivation  of  the  banana 
extends   within   this  region.     Trees  of  the  fig- 
tribe  appear  at  the  height  of  3,000  feet  on  the 
mountains  of  Java,  together  with  the  curious 


REGIONS.  183 

pitcher    plant,    rhododendrons,    shrubby  ferns, 
and  orchis  plants. 

4.  Region   of  the   evergreen    dicotyledonous 
trees,  from   5,700   to  7,600  feet,  corresponding 
to  the  warmer  temperate  zone.     On  the  moun- 
tains of  Java  the  laurel  forests  ascend  to  7,000 
feet ;    above    this    they    diminish   in   size    and 
beauty.     Here,  too,  the  evergreen  oaks  occur, 
I  he  olive,  and  the  beautiful  tree  heath,  (Erica 
arborea.)     At  this    altitude,   on  the  Himalaya 
Mountains,    scarlet    and    other    rhododendrons 
grow  luxuriantly ;  walnuts,  and  at  least  twenty- 
five  species  of  oak  abound,  one  of  which  (Quer- 
cus  semi  car  pi  folia)  has  a  clear  trunk  eighty  to 
one  hundred  feet  high. 

5.  Region    of    dicotyledonous    trees,    from 
7,600  to  9,500  feet,  (corresponding  to  the  colder 
temperate    zone,)    where    majestic    oaks    and 
beeches  are  the  ornaments  of  the  forests.    These 
trees    are    often    wanting    on    the    mountain 
heights,   and,  instead  of  them,   this  region  is 
sometimes    barren.     Some    of    the    fir    tribe 
appear  on  the  mountains  in  this  region,  but  are 
more  abundant  in  the — 

6.  Region  of  Abietince,  (firs  and  pines,)  ex- 
tending from  9,500  to  11,500  feet.     The  occi- 
dental pine,  which  forms  large  forests,  abounds 
in   this   region,  on  the   mountains  of  Mexico  ; 
and  the  yucca,  or  Adam's  needle,  forms  whole 
woods  in  the  same  parts  of  that  country,  single 
plants  rising  to  the  height  of  thirty  feet.    Agaves 
and  some  species  of  cactus  also  abound,  with 
oaks,  and  some  species  of  arbutus,  (strawberry 


184       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

tree.)  On  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe,  \vhich  is  in 
the  sub-tropical  zone,  this  region  extends  tc 
8,000  feet.  On  the  Appenines  and  Alps,  it 
extends  from  3,800  feet  to  5,700  feet.  On  the 
Harz  Mountains,  in  Germany,  it  does  not  reach 
beyond  3,800  feet,  while  in  the  sub-arctic  zon«, 
it  only  ascends  to  1,200  feet. 

7.  Region  of  rhododendrons,  or  lower  alpine 
region,  from  11,500  to  13,300  feet.     The  rho- 
dodendrons, which   are  well  known   in   almost 
every  garden,   are   the  special  ornaments  and 
features  of  this  region,  and  abound  in  almost 
every   district  of  it   in   Europe.     One  of  the 
common    species    (Rhododendron  ponticum)    is 
said    to   have   been  the   plant  from  which  the 
bees   of  Pontus   collected   the  honey  that  pro- 
duced the  extraordinary  symptoms  of  poisoning, 
described  as  having  attacked  the  Greek  soldiers 
in    the   famous    retreat   of  the    ten    thousand. 
Xenophon  says,  that  after  eating  it  the  men  fell 
stupified   in   all   directions,   so   that   the    camp 
looked  like  a  battle-field  strewed  with  corpses. 
Dwarf  species   of  willow  also  abound  in   this 
region. 

8.  Region    of    alpine    plants,    which    grow 
from  the  upper  limit  of  the  last  region  up  to 
the  line  of  perpetual  snow,  where  all  vegetation 
ceases.     Most  of  the  alpine  plants  are  peren- 
nial, and  many  of  them  are  singularly  tenacious 
of  life.     Many   of  them   are   beautiful   plants, 
especially  the  brilliant  gentians,  which  are  the 
glory  of  alpine  heights  ;  there  are  some  species, 
which  cover  the  sides  of  hills  with  blossoms  of 


DIVINE  BENEVOLENCE.  185 

such  intense  brilliancy  that  the  eye  can  scarcely, 
rest  upon  them.  A  great  variety  of  plants, 
with  large  blossoms,  adorn  the  heights  of  this 
region,  among  which  are  prominent  the  lovely 
anemones,  various  species  of  primroses,  etc., 
and  on  the  South  American  mountains,  inimu- 
lus,  (monkey  flowers  and  musk  plants,)  calceo- 
larias, lupins,  and  several  species  of  sida,  a 
genus  allied  to  the  mallows,  but  with  remark- 
ably beautiful  and  large  flowers. 

"  Tree  nor  shrub, 

Dare  that  drear  atmosphere  :  no  polar  pine 
Uprears  a  veteran  front :  yet  there  ye  stand 
Leaning;  your  cheeks  against  the  thick  ribb'd  ice, 
And  looking  up  with  brilliant  eyes  to  Him 
Who  bids  you  bloom,  unblanched,  amid  the  waste 
Of  desolation." 


We  have  now  glanced  rapidly  at  the  won- 
derful diversity  of  vegetable  life  with  which  oui 
bountiful  Creator  has  clothed  this  earth,  and 
have  endeavoured  to  explain  the  most  impor- 
tant of  the  known  causes  which  regulate  their 
distribution.  But,  however  interesting  such 
inquiries  may  be,  there  remains  for  our  con- 
sideration the  great  practical  lessons  which 
these  investigations  properly  suggest,  and 
without  a  due  regard  to  which  all  scientific 
pursuits  are  "  vanity."  We  see  exemplified,  in 
a  very  remarkable  manner,  the  goodness  and 
wisdom  of  our  heavenly  Father.  How  won- 
derfully varied  are  the  vegetable  productions  of 
our  globe,  and  how  marvellous  is  the  wisdom 
which,  out  of  one  form  of  life,  can  produce  so 
astonishing  a  number  of  species,  performing 
16* 

CRAMPTON  ACCESSION 


186       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

functions  of  each  essential  importance  in  the 
economy  of  the  globe,  and  ministering  so  ex- 
tensively to  the  necessities,  comforts,  and  plea- 
sures of  the  creatures  that  inhabit  it !  How 
amazing  is  the  law  by  which  the  whole  vege- 
table kingdom  becomes,  by  the  functions  of 
respiration  and  assimilation,  the  purifier  arid 
preserver  of  the  atmosphere  !  Infinite  wisdom 
is  apparent  everywhere  ;  and  how  lamentable 
is  it,  that  so  many  scientific  men  should  en- 
deavour, by  a  philosophy  "  falsely  so  called," 
to  account  for  the  wonders  of  our  world  with- 
out reference  to  a  Creator  :  so  true  is  the 
Scripture,  "  They  did  not  like  to  retain  God  in 
their  thoughts."  These  insidious  arguments 
are  continually  being  advanced,  both  in  Ger- 
many and  our  own  country,  by  men  of  high 
scientific  reputation  ;  but  it  becomes  us  to 
receive  their  statements  with  caution,  remem- 
bering that  the  works  of  God  can  never  con- 
tradict his  word.  Infinite  benevolence,  too, 
is  as  apparent  as  perfect  wisdom.  The  distri- 
bution of  the  plants  most  useful  to  man  over 
our  globe,  is  such  as  is  calculated,  in  the  best 
possible  manner,  to  develop  commercial  rela- 
tions. Thus,  while  nations  are  rendered  de- 
pendent on  one  another  for  many  necessaries, 
a  means  is  afforded,  by  the  constant  communi- 
cations thus  required,  for  the  rapid  extension 
of  religion  and  civilization  to  distant  countries,  • 
while  this  mutual  dependence  makes  the  pre- 
servation of  peace  their  interest.  The  distri- 
bution of  the  food  plants  of  our  globe,  and  the 


DIVINE  BENEVOLENCE.  187 

precise  adaptation  of  the  species  which  succeed 
best  in  each  country  to  the  wants  and  condition 
of  its  inhabitants,  are  most  beautiful  instances 
of  His  providence,  who  "  giveth  food  to  all  flesh  : 
for  his  mercy  endureth  for  ever."  While  many 
of  the  comparatively  less  important  fruits, 
such  as  the  orange,  banana,  mango,  peach, 
cocoa-nut,  etc.,  are  more  restricted  in  their  limit 
of  growth,  few  plants  have  such  a  range  as 
the  most  important  of  the  cerealia — wheat  and 
barley.  And  as  God  has  so  formed  our  bodies 
that  bread  is  to  be  their  main  support,  so  he 
has  given  to  the  corn  plants  a  capability  of 
bearing  extremes  of  temperature  which  few 
other  plants  possess.  Surely  this  may  teach 
us  to  trust  in  him  for  our  daily  wants,  for 
while  such  a  supply  is  made  for  man  and  beast, 
he  who  thus  feeds  the  fowls  of  the  air  and 
the  beasts  of  the  field  will  never  suffer  his 
children  to  want  any  needful  good. 

This  abundant  and  suitable  provision  made 
for  the  food  of  man  in  the  vegetable  kingdom, 
may  also  lead  us  to  think  of  that  "  Bread  which 
came  down  from  heaven,"  of  which,  if  a  man 
eat,  he  shall  live  for  ever ;  for  surely,  if  we  re- 
quire daily  food  to  support  our  bodies,  our  souls 
stand  in  greater  need  of  constantly  living  by 
faith  on  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God.  While 
our  fervent  prayer  is,  "  Lord,  evermore  give  us 
this  bread,"  let  us  regulate  our  expectations  by 
the  assurance,  that  the  same  bounty  which  is 
displayed  in  creation  is  engaged  also  in  dis- 
pensing the  riches  of  grace  ;  nor  is  the  supply 


188       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

thus  mercifully  afforded  less  suited  to  promote 
our  spiritual  health  and  happiness,  than  is  our 
daily  bread  to  the  nourishment  of  the  body. 
Nor  is  this  the  only  analogy  suggested  by  a 
view  of  those  benevolent  arrangements  of  the 
Creator,  which  we  have  been  contemplating. 
Most  of  our  best  medicines  are  derived  from 
plants,  and  the  large  number  of  these,  in  almost 
all  countries,  is  a  remarkable  proof  of  the  good- 
ness of  God,  in  thus  providing  for  the  cure  or 
relief  of  the  many  maladies  to  which  the  human 
frame  is  liable.  It  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  some 
of  the  most  active  medicinal  plants  are  very 
abundant  in  those  countries  in  which  the  diseases 
for  which  they  are  efficacious  are  chiefly  preva- 
lent ;  such  as  the  Peruvian  and  winter's  bark,  in 
South  America,  and  others.  Who  can  forget,  in 
connexion  with  these  facts,  the  prophet's  earnest 
appeal — "  Is  there  no  balm  in  Gilead  ?  is  there 
no  physician  there?  why  then  is  not  the  health 
of  the  daughter  of  my  people  recovered?*  Of 
all  the  diseases  that  affect  the  body  of  man, 
none  is  so  awful  in  its  consequences,  or  so 
deeply  seated  in  its  nature,  as  that  of  sin  in  the 
soul ;  and  if  the  remedy  be  not  applied,  this 
malady  will  prove  inevitably  fatal.  But  there 
is  a  remedy — a  sovereign  specific — an  unfailing 
cure — and  it  is  this,  The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ 
cleanseth  from  all  sin.  Every  soul  is  afflicted 
with  this  disease,  and  fur  every  soul  is  the, 
remedy  provided.  There  is  no  other ;  "  for 
there  is  none  other  name  under  heaven  given 
among  men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved" — 


POISONOUS  PLANTS.  189 

"  Believ'3  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou 
shalt  be  saved." 

Notwithstanding  the  marks  of  the  Divine 
goodness  and  bounty  that  are  everywhere  mani- 
fest in  the  vegetable  kingdom,  there  is,  never- 
theless, much  which  shows  us  that  this  is  a 
fallen  world  —  the  abode  of  fallen  creatures. 
Why,  else,  do  we  see  the  numerous  tribes  of 
poisonous  plants,  eliminating  their  deadly 
juices,  ready  to  deal  death  and  destruction  to 
every  one  who  tastes  them  ?  How,  else,  can  we 
•reconcile  the  presence  of  such  plants  as  the 
upas,  the  manchineel,  the  panghinia  of  Mada- 
gascar, the  woorali  of  South  America,  the 
dumb  cane,  the  frightful  nettles  of  Java,  and  a 
multitude  more,  in  a  world  which  abounds  in 
proofs  of  the  Divine  love  and  mercy  ?  God 
has  stamped  the  inscription  upon  the  globe,  in 
characters  which  all  may  understand,  but 
•which  none  can  erase,  that  man  is  a  fallen 
creature — that  lie  has  incurred  his  Maker's 
frown  ;  while  yet  that  Creator  in  wrath  re- 
members mercy,  and  still  provides  food  and 
comforts  for  the  creatures  who  have  rebelled 
against  him. 

The  universal  decay  of  plants,  their  death 
at  the  appointed  time — and  in  these  latitudes 
the  fall  of  the  leaf  from  most  of  our  trees 
reminds  us  of  our  own  mortality.  "  As  for  man, 
his  days  are  as  grass  :  is  a  flower  of  the  field, 
so  he  flourisheth.  For  the  wind  passeth  over 
it,  and  it  is  gone  ;  and  the  place  thereof  shall 
know  it  no  more.?; 


190       THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

"  We  have  short  time  to  stay  as  you, 

We  have  as  short  a  spring ; 
As  quick  a  growth  to  meet  decay, 
As  you  or  any  thing  ; 

We  die 
As  your  hours  do,  and  dry 

Away, 

Like  to  the  summer  rain, 
Or  as  the  pearls  of  morning  dew, 
Ne'er  to  be  found  again." 

May  these,  then,  instruct  us,  and  may  God  fl  so 
teach  us  to  number  our  days,  that  we  may 
apply  our  hearts  unto  wisdom  !" 

But  if  this  constant  decay  and  death  should 
vividly  impress  on  our  minds  the  fact  of  our 
own  mortality,  how  beautifully  does  the  ap- 
proach of  spring  illustrate  the  doctrine  of  the 
resurrection  !  It  has  been  well  remarked,  that, in 
some  tropical  countries,  where  winter  does  not 
come,  and  where  the  leaves  do  not  fall  as 
with  us,  the  want  of  the  vivid  beauty  of  spring, 
when  the  trees  and  flowers  burst  from  a  state 
of  apparent  death  into  all  the  loveliness  of 
foliage  and  flowers,  is  painfully  felt  by  an 
English  traveller.  We,  to  whom  such  a  scene 
is  familar,  can  understand  how  beautiful  a 
picture  it  gives  us  of  the  day  when  the  dead 
shall  arise,  and  when  we  shall  all  be  changed — 
the  corruptible  bodies  of  the  righteous  to  in- 
corruptible ones,  glorious  like  their  Saviour, 
purified  from  every  deadly  stain,  inrirmity,  or 
passion.  Nor  must  we  omit  to  notice  a  fact,  of 
which  the  apostle  Paul  makes  so  sublime  an 
application — the  growth  of  the  seed.  "  That 
which  thou  sowest  is  not  quickened,  except  it 
die  :  and  that  which  thou  sowest,  thou  sowest 


THL  RESURRECTION.  191 

not  that  body  that  shall  be,  but  bare  grain,  it 
may  chance  of  wheat,  or  of  some  other  grain  : 
but  God  giveth  it  a  body  which  it  hath  pleased 
him.  So  also  is  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 
It  is  sown  in  corruption  ;  it  is  raised  in  incor- 
ruption  :  it  is  sown  in  dishonour ;  it  is  raised  in 
glory  :  it  is  sown  in  weakness  ;  it  is  raised  in 
power  :  it  is  sown  a  natural  body  ;  it  is  raised  a 
spiritual  body." 

To  a  mind  daily  influenced  by  the  truths  of 
Divine  revelation,  how  many  aids  to  reflection 
are  furnished  by  these  striking  analogies,  of 
which  not  only  prophets  and  apostles  availed 
themselves,  but  which  are  rendered  still  more 
sacred  by  our  Lord's  application  of  them,  in 
illustration  of  his  doctrines  ! 

While  we  may  learn  much  from  nature,  and 
with  the  light  of  the  gospel  much  more,  it  is 
by  this  gospel  alone  that  we  are  told  of  the 
way  of  reconciliation  with  God — of  an  atone- 
ment for  sin.  Here,  alone,  we  have  the  tidings 
of  full  and  free  salvation,  through  a  crucified 
Eedeemer — the  truth  that,  though  utterly 
helpless  and  undone  in  ourselves,  God  has 
laid  help  upon  One  that  is  mighty  to  save, 
who  gave  himself  up  to  b^ar  our  sins,  and  to 
die  for  us  upon  the  cross,  that  we  might  be 
saved.  Here,  only,  do  we  learn  that  we  are 
"  not  justified  by  the  works  of  the  law,"  but 
by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ ;  and  here  we  have 
the  promise  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  sanctify 
our  hearts,  and  make  us  "  meet  for  the  in- 
heritance of  the  saints  in  light."  These  are 


1^  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  PLANTS. 

truths  that  the  book  of  nature  could  never 
teach  us.  Let  us  be  thankful,  therefore,  that 
we  are  not  left  to  it,  but  that  "  life  and  im- 
mortality" are  brought  "  to  light  through  the 
gospel."  May  \ve  be  made  **  wise  unto  salva- 
tion, by  faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  ;"  then, 
being  reconciled  to  God  by  the  death  of  his 
Son,  we  can  calmly  contemplate  the  frail  and 
fading  scenes  of  earth,  with  the  assurance  that 
there  "  remaineth  a  rest  for  the  people  of 
God."  In  that  world  sin,  sorrow,  and  death 
can  never  enter  ;  and  the  loveliest  scenes  below 
suggest  the  thought, 

"  If  God  hath  made  this  world  so  fair, 
Wher   sin  and  death  abound, 
How  beautiful  beyond  compare 
Will  paradise  be  found." 

And  just  as  the  hope  of  the  Christian  is  glorious 
and  full  of  immortality,  proportionably  desolate, 
dreary,  and  fearful,  is  the  prospect  of  those  who 
live  without  God  in  the  world — who  have  not 
made  their  peace  with  him,  through  Christ. 
To  such,  the  resurrection  and  a  future  state 
are  invested  with  terrors  passing  the  utmost 
stretch  of  human  thought.  Oh,  may  all  who 
read  this  volume  be  wise  to  seek  salvation  while 
it  is  to  be  found ! 


w 


U  C  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 

C0517CHbbfl 


96638*2 


BIOLOGY 

LIBRARY 

G 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


